Once the building plan is finalised, it will go to tender with an aim to appoint a builder by March with works to begin around April or May this year.
The project is estimated to take between 12 and 18 months to complete.
NCN Health CEO Jacque Phillips said the project was incredibly exciting and important for the region.
“Broadly, the refurbishment will see a new entrance to urgent care and a separate main entrance to the hospital, plus extensive civil works to redevelop the car park and traffic flow,” she said.
The project was funded by a grant from the 2020/21 Regional Health Infrastructure Fund, which aims to improve health services and agencies in rural and regional Victoria.
“The funding is available to expand capacity, improve safety, quality and efficiency and deliver better care to patients, no matter where they live,” Ms Phillips said.
“The end result will create a more accessible and safe health service together with upgraded facilities.”
NCN Health board director chair Dale Brooks said the works were the best news story to the Cobram community and surrounding region.
“The redevelopment of the urgent care centre has been a priority for the board and management of formerly Cobram District Health and now NCN Health for many years,” he said.
“Our local health service is often under increased pressure during busy seasonal and holiday periods and we need the best acute service to deal with the complexity of health complications.
“The new redevelopment will provide greater space and a major configuration of the acute rooms to allow patients to be treated safely and efficiently as possible.”
The redevelopment is currently in the final design stage with NCN Health operations and leadership team working with urgent care centre staff and consumer representatives to finalise the design in detail.
