The mysterious case of Rosebud Hospital

A revolution in healthcare for Frankston and the northern Mornington Peninsula is nearing completion with the $1.1 billion redevelopment of Frankston Hospital set to open in January 2026.

The single biggest investment into health infrastructure in Melbourne’s south-east; this redevelopment will deliver world-class health care to residents and cater to a growing and changing demographic in this region for the next fifty years.

Unfortunately, a 40-minute journey down the freeway paints a vastly different picture.

For a government that regularly touts its proud history and credentials in healthcare and hospital funding across Victoria, the proposed staged redevelopment of Rosebud Hospital has fallen on deaf ears.

While local Members of Parliament from both sides of politics have visited the hospital to see the challenges first-hand, the Victorian Minister for Health has not visited Rosebud Hospital during this current period of government (2014 – present).

If the Minister did make the journey down to Rosebud, she’d find a litany of issues not befitting a hospital that sits within metropolitan Melbourne – a designated area that constantly wins praise across the globe as one of the world’s most liveable cities.

To put it kindly, the hospital’s infrastructure is not fit for purpose.

This ageing and forgotten hospital features:

•        Doors that are too narrow for any meaningful equipment to fit through
•        Storage rooms that a local footy club would say were too small
•        Nursing stations out of sight of patients – forcing nurses to stand with mobile stations in the hallways
•        A fragile ceiling that the local possum population falls through
•        Shared toilets straight out of a 1970’s décor magazine
•        Bed ramping in the emergency room hallway during busy periods
•        Beds full almost all the time – and at the brink during summer
•        No surgery available

The one thing this hospital has in spades is a dedicated and passionate workforce.

Everyone you meet that works at the hospital loves it so much, and they work extra hard to make it a positive experience for their patients.

But it’s not the job of the workforce to fight for a bricks and mortar redevelopment – it’s our local representatives.

Of course, the Committee – as the peak advocacy body for our region – will continue to push this urgent issue when we meet with Victoria’s senior decision makers on both sides of politics.

While other hospitals can rely on capital works funding in the Victorian Budget documents this year, there’s no such joy for the southern peninsula.

Rosebud Hospital is the hospital that government forgot and with a State Election to be held in November next year, the question is: is anybody listening?

Josh Sinclair
CEO
Committee for Frankston & Mornington Peninsula