PENINSULA Health chief executive Helen Cooper has announced that Peninsula Health intends to merge with Alfred Health and Kooweerup Regional Health to create a new entity, tentatively named Bayside Health.
A statement supplied to The Times said the merger will come into effect from 1 January 2026, and “is an important step in improving health outcomes for the local community”. “The complementary nature of the three health services means we will be able to provide the full spectrum of care for the 1.1 million people we’ll serve through this network,” Cooper said. “Access to specialist care will become easier and more seamless under Bayside Health. The community will enjoy a more connected healthcare experience, and we will continue to deliver the very best of care for everyone, close to home.”
Alfred Health chief executive Adam Horsburgh said the new network will build on existing collaborative relationships across all three organisations and is a natural progression of the journey the health services are already on with community. “We already provide services across Victoria, including shared patient pathways with Peninsula Health, for a range of services including surgery, neurology and cardiology,” said Horsburgh. “This positive change is a natural progression to better realise the power of partnership. It will build on the strong history of collaboration between our hospitals and will open greater opportunities to develop care.”
The new health service will span from Melbourne’s south, through bayside and down through the peninsula and into Gippsland. As a first step, Peninsula Health and Kooweerup Regional Health Service will work together over the coming months to bring their two health services together. The three respective boards approved the voluntary merger in early December, believing that together the health services will be able to deliver better, safer, more accessible and more connected healthcare for the new larger community. The change aligns with the recently released Health Services Plan.
The merger comes as a significant milestone in the $1.1b Frankston Hospital redevelopment has been reached, with the external façade of the new clinical services tower now complete. Work is also underway to install hundreds of solar panels and to construct the helipad at ground level, before it is lifted onto the roof in stages. Meanwhile, inside the building work is progressing with services being fitted out level by level.
Construction of the emergency department’s new paediatric zone and mental health, alcohol and other drugs hub is also well underway, with staff and patients already benefiting from a newly opened 13-bed short stay unit. The workforce is now at its peak with 900 people on site – to date 1.8 million hours of work has been completed by approximately 3,800 workers since ground broke on the project in June 2022.
First published in the Frankston Times – 17 December 2024
