More funding for frontline care

At a glance

Every Victorian deserves to know – they or someone they love can rely on quality healthcare.

It’s why this Budget includes an extra $11.1 billion for health. This year alone, we are providing over $31 billion to our health system – the biggest investment ever in frontline care.

This investment will cover the globally increased costs of providing care – while making sure Victoria’s hospitals have everything they need to look after patients and their families.

This includes more care delivered with the $634 million opening and operationalising of 9 new or redeveloped hospitals at Frankston, Footscray, Maryborough and other sites across our state.

A further $230 million will make our hospital emergency departments even better equipped and reduce ambulance waiting times, helping Victorians get the care they need, when they need it.

And we’re continuing our investments in our incredible health workforce, with $203 million to make sure staff have the right skills.

A new Footscray Hospital

Construction on a bigger and better Footscray Hospital will be completed by the end of the year. This Budget delivers funding to open the new hospital, providing world-class care to families in Melbourne’s west.

This investment will deliver a new 8-bed Mental Health Alcohol and Other Drugs Hub within the Emergency Department and additional services in general medicine and subacute care.

Not only will the new Footscray Hospital deliver better care for local families, it will also position the inner west as a leading health, education and research precinct.

Victoria University will have dedicated education and research facilities onsite, with the hospital and university linked by a footbridge over Ballarat Road.

A bigger, better Frankston Hospital

We’re also getting ready to open the bigger, better Frankston Hospital.

As more families choose to make Frankston home, this project is the biggest-ever health infrastructure investment in Melbourne's south-east.

This investment will deliver a new 5-bed Mental Health Alcohol and Other Drugs Hub within the Emergency Department to care for patients with urgent mental health, alcohol and drug issues.

It also includes a separate, dedicated paediatric zone within the Emergency Department to support children and young people with urgent and emergency care needs.

A modern hospital for Maryborough

All Victorians should be able to access quality care – including those living in our regional communities.

It’s why with this Budget, we’re investing to open and operate the expanded Maryborough and District Hospital.

This state-of-the-art redevelopment includes a new urgent care centre, a 32-bed inpatient unit, 2 operating theatres, and a day medical centre with imaging and pathology services.

Local mums will also be able to give birth closer to home, with the upgrade delivering a new maternity unit with birthing suites – meaning women with uncomplicated pregnancies no longer need to travel to Ballarat or Bendigo to have their babies.

Nine new or expanded hospitals across our state

We’re ensuring more Victorians get the great care they deserve, wherever they live – and whenever they need it.

This Budget invests $634 million to open and operationalise 9 new or expanded hospitals across our state:

• Opening of the new Footscray Hospital.
• Opening of the redeveloped Frankston Hospital.
• Opening of the expanded Maryborough and District Hospital.
• Opening of the Craigieburn Community Hospital.
• Opening of the Cranbourne Community Hospital.
• Opening of the Phillip Island Community Hospital.
• Expansion of the Short Stay Unit at Albury Wodonga Regional Hospital.
• Expansion of the Paediatric Emergency Department at University Hospital Geelong.
• Redeveloped Swan Hill District Health Emergency Department, opened in December 2024.

This includes opening 3 new Community Hospitals in Craigieburn, Cranbourne and Phillip Island. These sites will provide a range of everyday services based on the needs of their local communities, such as day surgery, dialysis, chemotherapy, dental, allied health, mental health, medical imaging, pathology, urgent care and women’s and children’s health services.

This Budget also supports the expansion of Albury–Wodonga’s short stay unit, to reduce wait times and ensure patients get the care they need sooner.

Funding will also deliver the opening of the new kids’ ED at University Hospital Geelong, providing faster, more specialised care for children and their families.

And patients will continue to benefit from Swan Hill District Health’s redeveloped Emergency Department, which has doubled the number of treatment spaces.

This Budget also delivers $171 million to continue building and upgrading Victoria’s health system infrastructure, including:

• $57 million to upgrade infrastructure at Royal Melbourne Hospital, ensuring it delivers the best care to patients.
• $52 million for new and upgraded medical equipment, supporting operating suites, emergency departments, surgical wards, intensive care units and neonatal and maternity services in hospitals across the state.

Urgent Care Clinics

Our Urgent Care Clinics are helping Victorians get the care they need – free – and without a trip to the emergency department.

Urgent Care Clinics provide GP-led care to people who need urgent care but not an emergency response. This includes treatment for mild infections, burns, suspected fractures, and sprains.

This Budget invests $27 million to continue 12 Urgent Care Clinics across our state, giving more Victorians access to the free healthcare they need, when they need it.

Backing our nurses and midwives

Our hospitals are nothing without the dedicated nurses, doctors and healthcare professionals who work in them.

That’s why we’re on their side – investing $203 million to continue backing our healthcare workers – ensuring they have the support and resources they need to keep delivering world-class care.

We’re also delivering a significant pay deal for our nurses and midwives, recognising their vital work and helping to retain and attract nursing staff within our health system.

This investment includes $95 million to:

• Fund 1,100 more positions for nursing and midwifery students.
• Support nurse practitioners in high-demand areas such as aged care, mental health primary care and urgent care settings.
• Provide more opportunities for enrolled nurses to train as practising nurses within their workplace.
• Making sure nurses and midwives in rural Victoria have the same opportunity to build their skills through clinical placements.

This also includes $47 million to support Victoria’s mental health workers by continuing the psychology registrar program, Junior Medical Officer psychiatry rotations program, and the psychiatry registrar training and support program.

Investing in emergency care

Sometimes the emergency department is exactly where you need to be.

But when a fever just won’t break, or worrying symptoms show up in the middle of the night, it can be hard to know whether you need a trip to the ED, or you can rest more comfortably at home.

The Victorian Virtual Emergency Department (VVED), the first of its kind in Australia, provides expert care from emergency nurses and doctors, from the comfort of home.

It’s fielded more than half a million calls – giving trusted, free advice while easing pressure on busy hospital emergency departments.

The VVED currently delivers free urgent care to more than 600 Victorians every day.

A $437 million investment will almost triple its capacity – enabling the service to handle 1,750 calls per day by 2028-29, or more than 600,000 calls every year.

This Budget also invests $167 million to improve ambulance response times with more call takers and dispatchers at Triple Zero Victoria, and targeting bottlenecks in emergency departments to get paramedics back out on the road sooner.

This includes funding to improve patient flow within emergency departments, making sure patients are treated quickly and ambulances are back on the road. This $58 million boost to our ambulance services includes:

• $28 million for more beds at high-demand sites, including surge inpatient beds at each hospital.
• $27 million to expand and upgrade Short Stay Units to improve patient care and reduce wait times in emergency departments, including funding for additional nurse practitioners.

Continuing our investment in mental health

Since 2018, we’ve invested more than $6 billion to better support Victorians and deliver on the recommendations of the Royal Commission into Victoria’s Mental Health System.

As we look ahead, we are making sure we get these important reforms right by planning for future system growth and training the highly skilled staff we need.

The investments included in this Budget represent the next steps on that journey, with an additional $497 million.

When it comes to mental health, we know how much early intervention matters. And getting help for your mental health should be as easy as possible.

That’s why this Budget includes $23 million to expand our network of Locals, which provide free mental health care to Victorians – without the need for a referral or a Medicare card.

This investment will establish 7 new services, adding to the 15 Locals which have already helped more than 18,000 Victorians across our state.

A further $6 million will support our existing network of Mental Health and Wellbeing Locals – making sure they can reach even more Victorians with mental health help.

This Budget includes $319 million to support and improve mental health infrastructure, including:

• $289 million to support 82 inpatient mental health beds and 29 Mental Health Alcohol and Other Drugs Emergency Department Hub beds across 6 health services.
• $12 million to support Hospital in the Home beds, providing acute mental health support and treatment in the comfort of a patient's home.

We’re also providing $35 million in mental health and wellbeing support for children and young people, including the establishment of the Parkville Youth Mental Health and Wellbeing Service, a new dedicated public youth mental health service operated in partnership with Orygen.

A further $25 million will support suicide prevention programs for Victorians disproportionately impacted by suicide.

This includes $19 million in life-saving help for LGBTIQA+ people, with $15 million to support mental health for trans and gender diverse young people, $1.5 million to support people including in regional communities and $1 million to enable the Victorian Equal Opportunity and Human Rights Commission to continue its work to eliminate cruel and harmful practices, like conversion therapy.

Better care for older Victorians

We all deserve to be looked after as we get older. That’s why this Budget delivers an additional $50 million for public aged care.

This includes delivering new government-funded aged care beds, with additional capacity at the redeveloped Kingston Centre in Melbourne’s south-east and Hesse Rural Health in Winchelsea. Funding will also help meet nurse-to-patient ratios in residential aged care, delivering better care for residents and peace of mind for their families.

A further $25 million will help Victorians live in their own homes as they age, with essential equipment, supports and activities to maintain their independence.