State funds boosting regional health

HEALTH service facilities are set to be upgraded, covered by the State Government’s Regional Healthcare Infrastructure Fund.

One of the benefiting sites, Carshalton House, has been allocated more than $316,000 from the $70 million pool.

Ruth Ward, director of nursing at the Golden Oaks complex, said this will allow for expansion works so their 45 residents can “age in place.”

“At the moment, when care needs increasing, residents are moved to different facilities,so this will allow them to stay at Carshalton House,” she said.

“We’ll definitely try to increase some of the room sizes. We would hopefully have at least one bigger room per wing to allow for bariatric residents and allow for bigger furniture.

“Often, we have incidences where residents roll out of bed because they’re used to double beds so we want to be able to offer those services.”

Member for Bendigo East Jacinta Allan visited Carshalton House last week, and said every local government area in regional Victoria is sharing in the practical funding.

“This is funding that hospitals can apply for, aged care providers, Aboriginal controlled health organisations, community health, nursing homes,” she said.

“They can use it for a range of different things. For some, it might be buying some new equipment, for others it might be refurbishing a space.”

Three other local organisations are being supported, with more than $357,000 going to Bendigo Community Health Services, almost $9000 to Dingee Bush Nursing Centre, and more than $1.2 million to Dhelkaya Health.