Get more help closer to home with community health

Published August 20 2025

Community health organisations can keep Victorians experiencing disadvantage healthy, out of hospital and help save the system over half a billion dollars a year – but outdated facilities are holding many back and limiting services and support.

With the right planning and a small increase in infrastructure funding, community health organisations can support more people close to home and reduce the pressure on hospitals as shown in Infrastructure Victoria’s latest report Investing in community health infrastructure.

Continued under-investment in community health infrastructure leads to higher costs for governments, and poorer community outcomes. By 2036, organisations in growth areas will have to cater for more than double the number of people living there now. Wait times are likely to increase even further without investment in the infrastructure needed to support additional community health services. But if people cannot access these services, they will end up going to hospital more often than they need to. - Dr Jonathan Spear, Chief Executive Officer, Infrastructure Victoria

Key findings:

In 2023–24 there were 546,000 emergency department visits in Victoria that could have been avoided if they were managed in the primary and community health sectors.
This would have helped save the Victorian Government an estimated $554 million in expenditure in public hospital emergency departments.
Community health receives just 0.3% of the $2 billion the Victorian Government spends on heath infrastructure each year.
Continued under-investment in community health infrastructure leads to higher costs for the Victorian and Australian governments, and poorer community outcomes.
45% of eligible Victorians had not used a community health service in the last 5 years. Long wait times are the biggest barrier to access.
With the right infrastructure and service planning, community health organisations can serve more people and help ease demand on hospitals.

The need for investment

Community Health First is calling for an urgent increase in infrastructure funding to ensure Victoria’s community health organisations can meet growing demand across the state.

With a modest increase to annual funding of between 1.5% - 3% of the health infrastructure budget, community health can future-proof our services, respond to population growth, and ensure every Victorian has access to high-quality, local care.

45% of Victorians: Missed out on community based services in the last year as capacity cannot keep up with demand.

546,000 hospital visits: Could have been avoided last year with better infrastructure to treat people in the community

1 in 5 buildings: Are in a poor condition and urgently need government support to improve facilities and infrastructure.

Recommendations

Investing in Community Health Infrastructure makes 3 recommendations to the Victorian Government:

Conduct an asset assessment of all community health facilities in Victoria, including integrated and registered community health services.
Undertake long-term infrastructure planning in consultation with community health services and use this to develop community health services infrastructure investment priorities.
Invest in community health facilities to support the delivery of local, high-quality community health services over the next 5 years

Source: Infrastructure | Community Health First

Community Health First is an initiative led by all 22 registered independent community health services in Victoria united by one goal – improving the health, wellbeing and quality of live for all Victorians.