Goulburn Valley Health

New funding will enable children to receive highly-specialised, life-saving respiratory care within the Goulburn Valley for the first time, thanks to new equipment and training. Funding will also be used to create two part-time emergency nurse practitioner roles, support scholarships, and upskill staff delivering Hospital in the Home care, thereby keeping more children out of hospital, and servicing increased demand.

Respiratory support equipment and training – At present, children requiring critical respiratory support, such as high flow oxygen treatment, cannot receive the specialist care they need in the Goulburn Valley. New equipment, such as a Continuous Positive Airway Pressure (CPAP) machine, will build capacity to deliver this support within the region, while RCH training will build local capability. Importantly, this will allow children to stay in their own communities, while also reducing the risk of deterioration during hospital transfers. 

Paediatric nursing scholarship – Four scholarships will be offered to broaden the specialisations covered by Goulburn Valley Health’s Educator role. The scholarships, which will provide RCH training, will be offered to Goulburn Valley Health nursing staff across a range of teams, such as the Emergency Department, Operating Suite, Special Care Nursery and Child Adolescent Unit. 

Strengthening nursing care in the emergency department – Start-up funding will cover up to two part-time paediatric emergency nurse practitioner roles to be created for Goulburn Valley Health’s Emergency Department. These roles will draw on the support of the RCH by accessing its education packages, and by seconding more RCH nurse practitioners to Goulburn Valley Health’s Emergency Department, thereby fostering professional development and enabling peer-to-peer learning onsite regionally. 

Improving capability for Hospital in the Home(HITH)care – Despite an increase in demand, Goulburn Valley Health’s Hospital in the Home (HITH) service is currently restricted to two days per week. By offering more training to provide services such as managing catheter access, which supports long-term antibiotic therapies, more children can be treated at home, increasing their comfort, and freeing up hospital beds for more complex care. 

Albury Wodonga Health

The funding will allow us to establish a Paediatric Hospital In The Home Program, invest in advanced medical equipment including an ultrasound machine for paediatric echocardiograms and a polysomnograph for sleep studies, and enhance our workforce training and upskilling initiatives. Ultimately, it will allow us to provide comprehensive, family-centered care to children in our region, ensuring they receive the support and treatment they need to thrive’’

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2025 Funding Update

Albury Wodonga Health

Albury Wodonga Health (AWH) – Hume region AAWH provides care to over 400,000 people across the region. The hospital strives to provide children and young people with the best quality care, as close to home as possible and making high-quality paediatric care for the community more accessible than ever. .

• State-of-the-art medical equipment: purchase syringe drivers, vital sign monitors, transport incubators and ultrasound machines, allowing for critical tests to be conducted locally.
• Established a brand-new paediatric hospital-in-the-home program: The Paediatrics At The Child’s Home Program (PATCH) has commenced, with ongoing training and upskilling to occur throughout the year, further enhancing the service.

Goulburn Valley Health

Goulburn Valley Health (GVH) is the main referral health service for the Goulburn Valley, caring for communities across Greater Shepparton through to the Moira and Strathbogie Shires.
New funding has enabled children to receive highly-specialised, life-saving respiratory care within the Goulburn Valley for the first time, thanks to new equipment and training.

• Strengthening nursing care in the emergency department – cover two paediatric emergency nurse practitioner roles for the Emergency Department to help coordinate the assessment and care of sick babies and children.
• Hospital in the home: broaden the capability of its hospital-in-the-home service, offering relevant training and new employment opportunities. This will ensure that clinicians can care for children with complex needs outside a hospital environment, and as close to home as possible.
• Scholarships: empowering GVH’s current nursing workforce with two post-graduate nursing scholarships.

“Thanks to the Good Friday Appeal’s generosity, GV Health has been able to hire a dedicated nurse practitioner candidate for the Shepparton Hospital’s Emergency Department, with recruitment underway for another, as well as support postgraduate nursing scholarships and upskilling of staff delivering Hospital in the Home care.

These initiatives will help to ensure clinicians can care for children largely outside a hospital environment, and closer to children’s homes, thereby improving health and wellbeing outcomes in our region. We appreciate and thank the Good Friday Appeal for this significant support,”

Matt Sharp, Goulburn Valley Health Chief Executive.