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MORE specialist services ,closer to home … that’s the promise following the voluntary merger of Bass Coast Health into Bayside Health.
Health Minister Mary-Anne Thomas today approved the voluntary merger of five health services – Alfred Health, Bass Coast Health, Gippsland Southern Health Service, Kooweerup Regional Health Service and Peninsula Health – from 1 January 2026.
She said the five health services were able to demonstrate how their voluntary merger into Bayside Health would benefit each local community, delivering increased access to specialist services closer to home and improved patient outcomes.
The health services are already working together to improve patient care and identify areas for service improvement and development.
Health Minister Mary-Anne Thomas today approved the voluntary merger of five health services – Alfred Health, Bass Coast Health, Gippsland Southern Health Service, Kooweerup Regional Health Service and Peninsula Health – from 1 January 2026.
She said the five health services were able to demonstrate how their voluntary merger into Bayside Health would benefit each local community, delivering increased access to specialist services closer to home and improved patient outcomes.
The health services are already working together to improve patient care and identify areas for service improvement and development.
Alfred Health and Peninsula Health are working together to provide public neurosurgery consultations at Wonthaggi Hospital, so people living in the Bass Coast region will soon have specialist care close to home, building on an existing arrangement that already delivers a neurosurgery clinic at Frankston Hospital.
A new process to share critical patient information and resources across the five health services will deliver faster care for patients. Once a referral is accepted and a bed is booked patients will be transferred within 24 hours.
The new service will give existing staff of all health services expanded career and training opportunities, helping recruit and retain staff.
Recruitment for the incoming board has also commenced, with members to include representatives from the existing boards of the five services. The new board will be responsible for appointing a chief executive officer.
Under the merger, all existing hospitals and healthcare sites will continue to deliver programs and services for their communities and will keep their individual names.
A new process to share critical patient information and resources across the five health services will deliver faster care for patients. Once a referral is accepted and a bed is booked patients will be transferred within 24 hours.
The new service will give existing staff of all health services expanded career and training opportunities, helping recruit and retain staff.
Recruitment for the incoming board has also commenced, with members to include representatives from the existing boards of the five services. The new board will be responsible for appointing a chief executive officer.
Under the merger, all existing hospitals and healthcare sites will continue to deliver programs and services for their communities and will keep their individual names.
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Why doesn’t the Bass Coast Shire Council merge with Cardinia Shire Council to also achieve some economies of scale so we can fix the infrastructure issues in the Bass Coast.
Is this service to be bulk billed?
Is Govt funding providing extra staff necessary?
A better name would've been Bunurong Health.