$85 million for hospital engineering and medical equipment upgrades

Thirty-three health services will share $85 million in funding to upgrade or replace vital engineering infrastructure and medical equipment.

Upgrading medical equipment

The 2020-21 Medical Equipment Replacement Program will provide $35 million of funding across 21 metropolitan and regional hospitals. New equipment funded as part of the program includes:

• CT scanners
• digital x-ray units
• ultrasounds
• operating room microscopes
• heart imaging equipment, such as transesophageal echocardiogram units.

This equipment will support operating suites, emergency departments, surgical wards, intensive care units, neonatal and maternity services, and specialist areas.

At the Royal Children’s Hospital Melbourne funding will provide a New Flat Panel Detector. This technology will allow the Royal Children’s Hospital to decrease levels of radiation for paediatric patients who are more radiosensitive to x-rays while improving image quality.

At the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre funding will provide a new PET scanner. The scanner will be one of the first in Australia with a digital detector. This means scans can be performed faster, which is good news for patients and staff.

Upgrading engineering infrastructure

Through the 2020-21 Engineering Infrastructure Replacement Program, 25 metropolitan and regional hospitals will share in $50 million to replace critical engineering infrastructure. This will include:

• generators
• chillers
• emergency lighting
• nurse call systems
• patient lifts
• water and fire services.

Learn more about the Medical Equipment Replacement Program and Engineering Infrastructure Replacement Program via our dedicated program pages.