Towong Shire Councillors and members of the community, along with representation from other northern rural councils, assembled at a rally on the steps of Parliament House in Melbourne yesterday to push for a greenfield site for a new Albury-Wodonga hospital. The current proposal for the new Albury Wodonga regional hospital is simply inadequate, according to Towong Shire mayor, Cr Andrew Whitehead.

“The redevelopment proposed will barely meet current demand let alone the future demands for a region of 300,000 people,” he said.

“Approaches to the state government for a better outcome have been dismissed. It’s time to take a stand!

“A shortage of hospital beds leads to ambulance ramping and with Towong’s distance from major facilities, we have one of the slowest ambulance response times in the state. The new hospital must have enough beds to ensure ambulances are not left waiting at the doors to admit patients.”

Member for Benambra, Bill Tilley, is supporting the council campaign.

“Towong has the longest wait in the state for ambulances going to a life-or-death emergency and it’s all related to the lack of beds at Albury Wodonga Health,” he said.

“Data in the recently released Victorian Agency for Health Information over the last quarter of 2024 revealed that Albury Wodonga Health waiting lists increased by about 10 per cent to 3665 people.

“The average wait for Category 2 patients is 431 days but these patients are supposed to be treated inside 90 days.

“Towong Shire has the longest average wait time for life-threatening emergencies in the state, more than double the benchmark.”

Mr Tilley says the health services are in crisis.

“We can argue and play politics about the future of Albury Wodonga Health but I’m increasingly worried about the here and now,” he said.

“The category breakup of the waiting list is not included in the latest data dump.

“However, the total number increased by 300 people in three months, the average waiting for surgery is horrendous and yet we know there are people waiting far longer.”

Mr Tilley told the Victorian Parliament last week it is all about beds.

“That is the root cause of why ambulances are ramped and surgeries delayed,” he said.

“Multiple business cases have been put forward for 20 extra beds at Mercy Health and modular surgical units and I’ve again asked the Minster why that has been rejected.

“If a Wodonga ambulance is stuck at Albury Base trying to offload a patient because there are not enough beds, they call in the Beechworth service, then the Tallangatta ambos and so they all get sucked into Albury Wodonga, leaving their communities exposed.

“Labor has threatened fining hospitals if ambulances can’t offload patients in 40 minutes. Well they need beds to do that and it’s Labor who’s not providing the beds they need.” 

This article appeared in the Corryong Courier, 6 March 2025.