Investing in community health infrastructure will provide more people with support close to home and help ease the burden on Victoria’s emergency departments.
Infrastructure Victoria found that community health organisations can keep Victorians out of hospital and save public hospitals over $500 million by managing chronic health needs in the community.
The report, Investing in Community Health Infrastructure, finds that with the right planning and a small increase in infrastructure funding, community health organisations can help keep the most vulnerable Victorians healthy and ease demand on our hospitals and emergency departments.
“Continued under-investment in community health infrastructure leads to higher costs for governments, and poorer community outcomes.
By 2036, organisations in growth areas will have to cater for more than double the number of people living there now. Wait times are likely to increase even further without investment in the infrastructure needed to support additional community health services. But if people cannot access these services, they will end up going to hospital more often than they need to."
Dr Jonathan Spear
Chief Executive Officer, Infrastructure Victoria
Key Findings
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In 2023–24 there were 546,000 emergency department visits in Victoria that could have been avoided if they were managed in the primary and community health sectors.
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This would have helped save the Victorian Government an estimated $554 million in expenditure in public hospital emergency departments.
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Community health receives just 0.3% of the $2 billion the Victorian Government spends on heath infrastructure each year.
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Continued under-investment in community health infrastructure leads to higher costs for the Victorian and Australian governments, and poorer community outcomes.
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45% of eligible Victorians had not used a community health service in the last 5 years. Long wait times are the biggest barrier to access.
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With the right infrastructure and service planning, community health organisations can serve more people and help ease demand on hospitals.
The need for investment
Community Health First is calling for an urgent increase in infrastructure funding to ensure Victoria’s community health organisations can meet growing demand across the state.
With a modest increase to annual funding of between 1.5% - 3% of the health infrastructure budget, community health can future-proof our services, respond to population growth, and ensure every Victorian has access to high-quality, local care.
45% of Victorians
Missed out on community based services in the last year as capacity cannot keep up with demand.
546,000 hospital visits
Could have been avoided last year with better infrastructure to treat people in the community
1 in 5 buildings
Are in a poor condition and urgently need government support to improve facilities and infrastructure.
Growing our impact
"There is a clear need for sustained and strategic infrastructure funding. Community health is already delivering value – now we need the infrastructure to match”.
With the right infrastructure, we can deliver more services, to more people, in the communities where they live. This is about building capacity – not just buildings.”
Anna Robinson
Chair, Community Health First.
Recommendations
Investing in Community Health Infrastructure makes 3 recommendations to the Victorian Government:
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Conduct an asset assessment of all community health facilities in Victoria, including integrated and registered community health services.
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Undertake long-term infrastructure planning in consultation with community health services and use this to develop community health services infrastructure investment priorities.
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Invest in community health facilities to support the delivery of local, high-quality community health services over the next 5 years.
