A ‘one-stop-shop’ for community health and family services will be built in Kyneton.
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Cobaw Community Health Services will receive $9.7 million from the state government for the project.
The Healthy Community Access Hub will bring together primary health and community health services, private practitioners and counsellors.
The $9.7 million facility be purpose-built and will feature a significant increase in multi-purpose consulting rooms.
The design is intended to encourage community and primary health professionals to work collaboratively.
The hub will also boast the latest in e-health technology, enabling patients to create and change bookings and access care from remote areas of the region.
“The new Healthy Community Access Hub will bring together a range of health and family services conveniently under one roof, ensuring services are better connected, more efficient, and easier to access,” Minister for Health Jill Hennessy said.
Construction will start in early 2018 and finish in late 2019.
Member for Macedon Mary-Anne Thomas expected the hub would make life easier for local families and health professionals alike.
“Cobaw community health already provides a terrific service for our community,” she said.
“This new facility will mean room to grow and expand to meet future demand.
“We’re supporting Cobaw to support our community,”
The project is funded by the state government’s $200 million Regional Health Infrastructure Fund.
The government claims the new fund, to upgrade regional and rural health services, is the largest of its kind in the state’s history.
Cobaw Community Health Services provides services to more than 5,000 people each year, ranging from early childhood to aged and disability care.
It was established in 1986 and has more than 80 staff.
Chief executive officer Margaret McDonald said the Healthy Community Access Hub would support the delivery of more efficient and effective services for people in central Victoria, and result in improved health outcomes.
“It will meet the strong and growing community demand for accessible wrap-around services, addressing the changing needs of a regional population,” she said.
The population of the Macedon Ranges Shire is expected to increase by more than 36 per cent by 2036, from 47,352 people to 64,654.
Most of that change is expected to happen in the next four years, with a net increase of 4688 people predicted by 2021.
The Kyneton district is forecast to grow from 9047 people to 11,457 by 2036.