By Dongyun Kwon
The Yarra Valley community would like to have an urgent care clinic in Healesville.
Star Mail conducted a federal election survey over the last few weeks.
One of the five main issues Star Mail readers pointed out in the survey was Health Services.
In another question, about 54 per cent of the survey respondents chose they would like to see federal funding for local hospitals increase.
Especially, the readers of Mountain Views and Upper Yarra papers especially raised the need for urgent care and emergency services in the Yarra Valley.
The majority of the respondents indicated Healesville Hospital and Yarra Valley Health would be the good spot to have urgent care service.
A Chum Creek resident said she had to go down to Maroondah Hospital for a 20-minute treatment.
“Let’s say something minor that you don’t need to be ambulanced for but that you still need attention, happens to you, at this point, I’ve got to go down to (Maroondah Hospital), I can’t stop in Healesville, there’s not much in Lilydale,” she said.
“I’ve had a couple of experiences, recently. I’ve gone to Maroondah for relatively simple things, but the whole thing has taken four or five hours.
“You get down there, and you wait an hour and a half to be seen, and then you might be lucky and get a 20-minute treatment, and then you’re now in peak hour, you’ve got another hour and a half to go home.
“It’s just too far to go for something relatively short. It’s just a waste of time.”
She is advocating for Healesville Hospital to be a place for urgent care.
“I like having it in Healesville because Healesville Hospital is 15 minutes from here,” the Chum Creek resident said.
“There are also a lot of tourists who can sprain an ankle or do something minor.
“And if you tell them to go down the line. They don’t even know where they’re going, whereas (if we have one) in Healesville, they can be guided there.”
A Woori Yallock resident also said the nearest hospital with emergency care is far away from his town.
“There were plans for hospital facilities at the old Warburton Sanitarium building, but that never went anywhere,” he said.
“My wife and I have had to call the ambulance over the years. The last episode was (when) the ambulance had to go all the way to Maroondah (Hospital) for my wife at 10 o’clock at night.
“She sat in the waiting till six in the morning before they did anything. It’s a little frustrating.”
The Woori Yallock resident said although the Warburton plan would be a good opportunity, he still thinks Healesville Hospital could be a good place to have an urgent care clinic.
Last month, the Labor Government announced an election promising to open 50 urgent care clinics across Australia including 12 in Victoria during the 2025-26 financial year.
On Sunday 2 March, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said four in five Australians will live within a 20-minute drive of a bulk-billed urgent care clinic, once all of the 50 clinics are open.
“This announcement of 50 additional Urgent Care Clinics if we are re-elected will provide the urgent care people need,” he said.
The government has released a list of target areas, in which Lilydale is one, but the final sites would be decided independently.
Services for Healesville Hospital Action Group (SHHAG), then called Save Healesville Hospital Action Group, was founded in 2012 with the aim of reviving more services at the hospital.
The group has been advocating for establishing an urgent care service in Healesville Hospital, as the closest hospital equipped with the service, Maroondah Hospital, is about 50 minutes away from the town.
SHHAG chairperson Jane Judd said the Healesville Hospital would be the best place for an urgent care clinic.
“It’s a perfect site because they have a GP clinic on site, so there are actually medical professionals up there, seven days a week. They have pathology services, X-ray services, an operating theatre, highly skilled nurses, 19 beds and palliative care beds designated for caring for people at the end of life,” she said.
“It’s co-located on the site with Monda Lodge, so it’s the natural home of an urgent care centre.
“We were very excited that the Casey electorate has been earmarked for an urgent care centre, if the Albanese government gets re-elected. For us, the issue is where it needs to be, and initially, there was a suggestion that Lilydale might be a good location.
“I’m sure the people in Lilydale would have been happy to hear that, but it ignored the fact that the vast proportion of people in the rural areas of the Yarra Ranges Council have much less access to health services than the people in Lilydale. Lilydale has Yarra Ranges Health, and Inspire Community Health, is close to the emergency department at Maroondah, and is closer to the other urgent care centres down the line towards Boronia and Kilsyth, so they have options that we don’t have.
“If you are sitting in Marysville, Toolangi, Warburton, Healesville and the surrounds, you have to travel a very long way if you have a child that’s injured themselves, or you’ve injured yourself falling off your bike.”
Yarra Ranges councillors will discuss this issue in the next meeting, which will be covered by Star Mail next week.
Star Mail will also reach out to the four federal election candidates for Casey asking their thoughts on this issue.
