Labor pledges hospital services in Torquay

LABOR has pledged to upgrade the Torquay Community Health Centre into a community hospital in six years if it is re elected, but is being fuzzy about exactly which services will and will not be included.

Announced by Premier Daniel Andrews as part of Labor’s campaign launch at the weekend, Torquay will be among 10 community hospitals to be either built or expanded under the $675 million pledge.

Labor says the new greater range of urgent care services at the centre at 100 Surf Coast Highway would likely include chemotherapy and paediatric care.

Construction of the Torquay Community Hospital is expected to start in 2022 and be complete in 2024.

Speaking outside the centre with Member for Western Victoria Gayle Tierney, Labor candidate for South Barwon Darren Cheeseman would not reveal a minimum or maximum level of care at the hospital, but said it would be similar in scale to the Colac Area Health facility in Colac.

“It won’t be a full-blown hospital in terms of emergency and all that stuff – what we will do is consult the community and the experts about the scale of the services on offer.”

He said the existing centre was built in the 1970s.

“Torquay itself is a lot bigger now, let alone Armstrong Creek, which has come into its catchment.

“When I get around and doorknock people, what they’re saying to me is that they want services to cater to their families, for their parents… I’d be certainly very worried if my grandfather had a heart attack in this community, because it’s a long way to go into Geelong.”