Funding for mother-baby mental health unit
Ballarat Health Services (BHS) has received State Government funding of $3 million to build a five-bed, mother-baby mental health unit. The funding was announced during a visit to Ballarat today by Minister for Mental Health, Mary Wooldridge. Ms Wooldridge said mothers dealing with severe post-natal depression in regional areas were faced with options that included traveling to Melbourne for treatment or staying without their children in an adult acute mental health facility. The mother-baby mental health unit will allow mothers to continue developing parenting skills and attachment to their babies while at the same time receiving treatment for mental illness, closer to home. “We know it will make a difference to mothers and babies in the region,” Ms Wooldridge said. BHS Executive Director Mental Health Services Tamara Irish said the Ballarat and the Grampians region would benefit significantly from the new facility, “This creates a deeper and richer health care ...

$46.4 million State Government budget boost
The plans of BHS to meet the current and future health needs of the Ballarat and Grampians Region received a very significant boost in the State Government budget. The budget supports key projects contained within the BHS Master plan. These major projects include: - construction of a helipad and multi-deck car park - expansion of bed numbers - construction of an Ambulatory Care Centre. Board Chairman Andrew Faull said the commitment of $46.4M by the State Government will allow BHS to continue developing its services and capacity to meet the growing demands from the Ballarat community and the Grampians Region. “This is fantastic news for the people of Ballarat and indeed our region”, Mr Faull said. He said BHS was experiencing unprecedented demand for services and the acuity of patients being treated was also increasing. “The funding provided in the State Budget is recognition of the need to expand clinical services and facilities to ...

Events, seminars, conferences hosted by Ballarat Health Services
To find out more about each event, please click on the links below Mental Health Workshop, May 16 The real life experiences of people from an indigenous background who care for someone with a mental illness will be shared at special Ballarat Health Services-Mental Health Services workshop. For more details click here.   Transition Care Forum, May 31 Transition care is short-term care that seeks to optimise the functioning and independence of older people after a hospital stay. This forum will look at transition care programs of a number of service providers. It will cover clinical updates and related information and links to other services. The guest speaker will be Ambassador for Ageing and Logie Award-winning actor, Noelene Brown. Managing dilemmas during transition care will also be addressed and the forum will conclude with a panel discussion which examines a case scenario. For more details on the forum click here. To obtain a registration form, click here ...