A major Melbourne hospital's helicopter flight path was changed before the Victorian government scrapped plans to build a medical precinct in the city's inner north.
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The Arden medical precinct was abandoned in the May 7 state budget after technical work showed electromagnetic interference from nearby trains could wreak havoc on sensitive medical equipment.
The government decided to instead redevelop the Royal Melbourne and Women's hospital sites at Parkville to deliver the same number of extra beds.
Health Minister Mary-Anne Thomas revealed to a budget estimates hearing on Wednesday that a flight path was moved in January, meaning both hospital expansions could be taller.
"When the Arden project was first announced in 2022, we were restricted in the number of storeys that we were able to build on the Parkville site to 15," she told the Public Accounts and Estimates Committee.
"But as works continued on the delivery of this project, there have been changes that were made to the flight path from the Royal Children's Hospital.
"That flight path has been changed and, as a consequence of that, we're now able to build up to 22 storeys."
Hospitals require a flight path above to allow helicopters to land for emergency transportation of patients.
A material handling building on Flemington Road will be demolished to make way for a new Royal Melbourne Hospital tower.
Ms Thomas said the expansion of the Royal Women's Hospital would be delivered by "building up" on its existing site.
An extra 1000 homes would be built in Arden after the change of plan, Ms Thomas said.
Labor committed up to $2.5 billion to the $5 billion-$6 billion Arden medical precinct plan before the 2022 election, spruiking it as "the biggest hospital project in Australia's history".
Ms Thomas rejected claims the government had broken an election promise, declaring its $2.3 billion funding commitment to the project's first stage remained unchanged.
"We're simply changing the location," she said.
Department of Health secretary Euan Wallace said the potential for electromagnetic interference was part of its initial risk assessments for both Parkville and Arden sites in 2021.
The interference at the Arden site was "particularly complex" due to a combination of surface and Metro Tunnel trains, with Parkville only having the latter, he said.
Earlier, Mr Wallace confirmed his department was handed a report from an expert advisory committee almost two weeks ago that could lead to some of the state's 76 health services merging.
The health minister said the government was waiting for advice from the department and would then take the report to her colleagues, protecting it under cabinet in confidence.
"The object of this work is to ensure people are receiving care as close to home as possible," Ms Thomas said.
"No decisions have been made."
The Victorian opposition plans to move a motion in parliament next week to compel the government to release the report.
"There's no reason why they should withhold these important documents from the Victorian people," Opposition Leader John Pesutto told reporters on Wednesday.
Australian Associated Press
