Health

With two major hospitals and dozens of physician specialists, Ballarat serves as a regional healthcare centre with a wide range of quality medical care.

Healthcare infrastructure in Ballarat includes excellent public and private hospitals and a regional base for the Royal Ambulance service. This infrastructure and population base sustains a complete range of medical specialists and a new cancer clinic.

From Bacchus Marsh to the South Australian border, Ballarat’s healthcare facilities provide cutting edge, sophisticated medical treatment to a diverse population with changing needs. 

Ballarat Health Services, the umbrella organisation for much of the region’s healthcare infrastructure, offers a comprehensive array of services that include emergency medicine, as well as acute, psychiatric, palliative and aged care. 

Ballarat Base Hospital maintains over 200 acute care beds, while the Queen Elizabeth Centre provides more than 600 nursing care and hostel beds. St. John of God Hospital, a private not-for-profit facility, has a capacity of over 200 acute care beds. Like Ballarat Base Hospital, St. John of God offers a wide variety of medical services, including general medical, surgical, paediatric, obstetrics, intensive and coronary care.

Health and Community Services

With two major 200+ beds, full service Hospitals, and a large geriatric care facility, Ballarat serves as the health and community services centre for the Western Region of Victoria. Furthermore, Ballarat's superior medical precinct is augmented by a comprehensive array of medical specialists, therapists and services, including emergency medicine, surgical, paediatric, obstetrics acute, coronary, oncology, psychiatric and aged care.

Employment

Ballarat's Health and Community Services Industry makes a significant contribution to the local economy, accounting for the employment of over 4,600 people and a growth rate of 3.0% per annum. The vast majority of people (74.3%) are employed in the Health Sector, 21.9% are employed in the Community Services sector, and the remainder (3.8%) are employed in closely related occupations.

Facilities and Services

Figures from the Commonwealth Department of Health and Ageing indicate that there is are combined total of 1,020 hospital, nursing and hostel beds in Ballarat. In addition, there are 910 residential aged care places within the City, consisting of both high-care and low-care facilities.

The regional community is serviced by over 100 Ballarat-based General Practitioners (i.e.Doctors) and a substantial range of specialised and general health care services, including:

Home and Community Care (HACC) is a Government funded program which provides community services to older residents who live in their own homes. There are approximately 14,400 residents who subscribe to this service, injecting $7.1 million into the local economy through this industry sector.

Department of Human Services data indicates that Ballarat Health Services is a well performing service when compared with major regional city and major metropolitan Melbourne hospitals. This is highlighted by relatively low waiting times data for emergency treatment and elective surgery.

In Ballarat, there are 14 Long Day Care providers offering approximately 570 places; there are approximately 340 Family Day Care places and 30 Occasional Childcare places.