THE release of new hospital admissions data showing Bendigo Health treated a record number of patients last financial year provides a shot in the arm for the campaign to secure funding for a new hospital to serve our city and the wider region.

The statistics also raise questions as to whether or not the planned refurbishment of the emergency department will go far enough to address the community’s needs for the intervening period between any announcement of funding and a new hospital being built and completed.

While politicians will be quick to either attack the figures as proof the government needs to do more to support our public hospitals, or to point out the great job hospital staff have done under incredible pressures, the numbers ultimately speak for themselves.

Our hospital and its emergency department have never treated so many members of this community, and given the strong population growth Bendigo is experiencing and the region’s ageing demographic, the case for a new bigger, better and improved hospital facility could not be put any stronger.

There is no reason to expect anything other than an increasing upward trend in these statistics, just as there is no reason to expect anything other than an increase in community pressure and expectation for a State Government announcement of funding for a new hospital in next year’s budget. What do you think? Write a letter to the editor, or e-mail editor@bendigoadvertiser.com.au