Victoria announces $437m health package

Today, the Victorian Premier, Daniel Andrews, announced a $437m health package in addition to the $100m elective surgery measures announced on 16 March 2020.

The stimulus – primarily aimed at supporting the healthcare network – will be used for new beds, additional equipment, funding for EDs and ICUs, additional resourcing for pandemic containment activities and support for workforce continuity throughout the pandemic, including:

• More than $80m for more beds over the next 12 weeks, in time for the peak of the pandemic, including 84 beds at the old Peter Mac Hospital and 45 beds at Bendigo Health. These 129 beds are in addition to the 140 new beds that are coming online at Casey Hospital.
• Baxter House will be recommissioned to keep regional Victorians safe – with consulting rooms and virus clinic capacity at Barwon Health.
• $115m to cover an extra 45,000 emergency department presentations, 5,000 hospital admissions, and a further 2,000 intensive care unit admissions during the pandemic peak.
• $107m to buy life-saving equipment, including 4,000 high flow oxygen therapy units for patients in acute respiratory failure, 130 dialysis machines and 1,200 patient monitors.
• $22m of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) – including 275m pairs of gloves, 8.6m face masks, and 1.7m gowns.
• $97m to backfill the healthcare workforce in the event that staff need to self-isolate through exposure or infection.
• $37m to increase surveillance across the state, allowing for more targeted case identification, contact tracing, isolation advice and confirmation of individuals who are no longer infectious.

There has been talk of Victorian businesses being offered "survival payments" to help stay afloat as they grapple with the fallout of coronavirus. We are continuing to monitor this in the coming days and weeks.