THE opening of Frankston Hospital’s new $81 million emergency department last week was marred by political bickering.
As part of the spoils of Labor’s state election victory in November, Health Minister Jill Hennessy attended the opening of the new emergency department.
The new emergency department houses 49 beds and the new hospital wing has three additional wards with 92 new beds.
Ms Hennessy attacked the former Coalition state government at the emergency department’s official opening event last Tuesday morning.
“Under the Liberals, our health system was in crisis and too many patients were waiting too long for treatment, including here on the peninsula,” she said.
“The Andrews Labor government is working hard to rebuild our health system, with a $200 million boost to find and open the beds and theatres that the Liberals closed.”
Liberal opposition deputy leader Gordon Rich-Phillips fired back with some political shots of his own.
“It’s great to see this project come to fruition. Not only was this project delivered on time, it was delivered 10 per cent under budget, which meant savings of over $8 million were able to be re-invested in new services for the hospital,” he said.
“Unfortunately due to the Andrews Labor government dumping the state’s building watchdog’s Construction Code Compliance Unit, Victorians are unlikely to ever see projects like these being delivered within budget and on time under a Labor government.”
Turning his sights on the new Premier, Mr Rich-Phillips accused Daniel Andrews of being “inextricably linked to the unions and the CFMEU”.
“The scrapping of this unit is just part of his union payback. This means dodgy deals, weak compromises and more uncertainty for Victorian families.”
Frankston Hospital’s much-needed expansion had looked like being one of the few instances of bipartisanship between the state Labor and Liberal parties before the latest bout of political pot shots broke out.
The hospital’s redevelopment began under the former Bracks Labor government and works and funding continued under the Coalition Napthine government which lost the state election last November.
When in opposition, both major parties relentlessly criticise ambulance ramping times and patient wait times in emergency, and then praise any statistical improvements when in government.
