Premier Daniel Andrews has announced his government will transform the Bellbird Private Hospital in Blackburn into the ‘Blackburn Public Surgical Centre’.
The center will be operated by Eastern Health and will have four operating theaters, a ten-bed day procedure unit, 43 inpatient beds and offer a range of services including gynecology and general surgery.
The announcement has been made less than a week after it was revealed more than 87,000 people are awaiting elective surgery in Victoria.
Andrews said the move was about making “facilities that were for some patients into a facility what will be for all patients.”
The government has said all 95 of the nurses, allied health professionals, technical and patient support staff working at Bellbird Private Hospital will be offered equivalent ongoing roles with Eastern Health, to retain their skills and expertise for when the new center opens.
The government will takeover the center on October 10, and will expand the hospital’s capacity before it opens to the public in February 2023.
The hospital is set to become the second private hospital repurposed into a planned surgery center by the government.
Frankston Private Hospital is due to transition into a public health service in September.
Once both centers are fully up and running, it is expected they will be responsible for 15,000 surgeries combined each year.
Andrews said his government was aiming to be delivering a record 240,000 surgeries every year by 2024.
A total of 200,000 were being performed annually in the state before the COVID-19 pandemic.
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