WESTERN District Health Service (WDHS) has missed out on crucial funding in the 2020-21 State Budget while Hamilton Parklands School came out as a big winner.

The State Government will provide $12.99 million for upgrades to modernise Hamilton’s special development school, including providing additional permanent buildings.

The budget will invest more than $3 billion in school upgrades, including $1.1 billion as part of the previously announced Building Works Package, with a further $1.9 billion to roll out the next phase of the school building boom.

Although Hamilton Parklands Schools will receive a significant upgrade, no further funds were allocated to the WDHS upgrades.

WDHS chief executive, Rohan Fitzgerald said in what had been a tough year already, this week’s state budget brought no relief for the ageing infrastructure at Hamilton Base Hospital.

WDHS has been calling on the State Government to fund the redevelopment of the hospital’s emergency department (ED), intensive care unit (ICU) and radiology department for years, with no success.

“The business case, feasibility study and master plan have been completed and we were ready to go,” Mr Fitzgerald said.

“Compared to health services across state, WDHS has fared poorly when it comes to the distribution of funds for infrastructure projects over recent years.”

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