REDHS chief executive officer Karen Laing told Rochester Rotary’s Community Chat breakfast on Thursday morning that the site’s computer services had been repaired along with the fire system and was now ready for tradies to start the restoration work.
The computer and fire services needed to be back online before the tradespeople could come on site, for safety purposes.
REDHS' community consultation process is being completed using one of Australia’s largest privately-owned providers of quantity surveying and project management, Donald Cant Watts Corke (DCWC).
REDHS and DCWC are working with the Victorian Government’s Department of Health to prepare a future-focused entity service plan to determine the future direction of the health service.
“For the last few weeks, we have been trying to gather data on what the community will need,” Ms Laing said.
“(DCWC consultants) Christine and Jodi have been gathering that information to form the plan, which will be given to the (health) department.
“We have consulted with our clinical teams and held forums for staff and the community to allow them to have their say.
“This moring is one of the last ways we will get our information.”
Ms Laing said the “new’’ REDHS facility was being designed on the back of information provided by the community, along with data from its own records, to plan for what the Rochester district would need in the next decade.
“We are talking to everyone to try and get some sort of sense what the population will look like in 15 years,” she said.
The survey asks questions regarding the services most valued by the community and how it can better respond to the needs of patients, residents, families and carers.
Ms Laing said the building was not damaged to the extent that it needed to be demolished, but the entire interior required replacing and that would be completed within the existing structure.
She said the height of the building would not be altered and planning was being done to provide the Rochester community with a “flood-friendly’’ facility.
Rochester hospital’s rebuild will be completed in stages in the next 18 to 24 months, with simple measures taken in the refurbishment to avoid a repeat of the destruction of fittings and equipment in the building.
The REDHS building had water through every wing, up to a metre in some areas and as little as 10cm in others.
Its community care wing, GP practice, executive wing and 60-bed aged care facility have all been “gutted’’ in preparation for the army of tradespeople to begin the interior rebuild.
Ms Laing said simple mitigation measures could be taken by the installation of power points at higher levels than were previously seen in the building.
She said much of the service’s medical equipment was destroyed as a result of the power source being flooded with water.
She told the breakfast that demolishing the building was never a consideration, as it “was too valuable’’.
She also expanded on the future of the service, saying nothing would be lost to the community as a result of the flood event.
“We are asking people what they want from their health service. It’s important they tell us and those services will be provided,” she said.
She said the plan was to provide an “even better’’ service and the refurbishment would be about ‘’getting it right’’ rather than any timeline for the completion of the project.
“Some building has already commenced, we have cleaned the building out and an assessment of what needs to be done has been completed,” Ms Laing said.
• Read more about the hospital refurbishment on page 5.
