One of the 2018 Andrews Government election promises, a student accommodation hub at Maryborough Hospital, is now open.
The new 20-bed accommodation hub for healthcare students and trainees at Maryborough District Health Service offers a comfortable and convenient place for medical, nursing and allied health students to stay during training and work placements. The facility features 20 single bedrooms with ensuite bathrooms, along with communal living, kitchen, dining areas and landscaped gardens.
The project was funded through the Labor Government’s $790 million Regional Health Infrastructure Fund (RHIF) and delivered by the Maryborough District Health Service in partnership with the Victorian Health Building Authority.
The new student accommodation is part of a larger investment earmarked in the 2021/22 State Budget to redevelop and expand the Maryborough and District Hospital. This project will also deliver a new urgent care centre, a 32-bed inpatient/birthing unit, two operating theatres, recovery spaces, a medical centre with imaging and pathology services. Work is expected to be completed by late 2024.
More regional student accommodation planned
The Andrews Labor Government is also looking at using the regional Commonwealth Games athlete’s accommodation for students on clinical placement.
At a 2022 press conference in which Premier Andrews announced plans to grow the nursing and midwifery workforce by removing undergraduate and postgraduate education costs, he also mentioned the State Government’s plan to re-purpose the athlete’s villages being built for the 2026 Commonwealth Games into student accommodation once the games have concluded.
The games will be held at sites across regional Victoria, with athlete’s village hubs located in Geelong, Bendigo, Ballarat and Gippsland.
Apart from course costs and materials, student nurses and midwives must undertake a minimum of 10 to 20+ weeks of clinical placement across Victoria, with a different requirement for midwives. Many struggle to find accommodation.
ANMF (Vic Branch) believes that re-purposing athlete’s accommodation into student housing is a positive step towards making clinical placements more accessible.