CAPACITY in the intensive care unit at Bendigo Hospital is expanding with the announcement of two new beds for the ward.<\/p>\n
The additional beds and associated equipment brings the number of ICU patients that can be managed by the hospital in the unit to eight.<\/p>\n
The two news beds were funded with $3.8 million from the State Government and include an extra four new staff members to support the expanded unit.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is a very important initiative,\u201d said Member for Bendigo West, Maree Edwards.<\/p>\n
\u201cOne of those beds is already operational and the second one will be operational early next year.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe know that there\u2019s been an increase in the number of people being referred to ICU\u2026 whether that be though an increase in the number of people we\u2019re seeing with heart attacks or\u2026 further trauma as a consequence of accidents or injury.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe also know that COVID has put a lot of pressure on our health system.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have to have increased staff to support the ICU beds.\u201d<\/p>\n
Chief operating officer with Bendigo Health David Rosaia said an expanded critical care service at the hospital has been on the agenda for a while.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s been a fantastic opportunity for us to increase our capacity in ICU and it\u2019s been something we\u2019ve been looking for for the last 12 months,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve seen a significant increase in our demand for our ICU capabilities.<\/p>\n
\u201cTwo years ago we increased our cath lab [cardiac catheterisation] to 24\/7, so that has actually increased the number of STEMIs [heart attacks] that have come into our organisation. That\u2019s about a 40 per cent increase.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo that\u2019s important for us to now have the capacity to treat those patients.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
CAPACITY in the intensive care unit at Bendigo Hospital is expanding with the announcement of two new beds for the ward. The additional beds and associated equipment brings the number of ICU patients that can be managed by the hospital in the unit to eight. The two news beds were funded with $3.8 million from […]<\/p>\n