Open Letter to the Minister for Health and Shadow Minister for Health
Published on 25 August 2026
Dear Minister Stitt and Shadow Minister Crozier
Re: Seeking Certainty for Local Healthcare in Murrindindi Shire
The proposed merger of Alexandra District Health (ADH) with Eastern Health is one of the most significant decisions affecting healthcare in Murrindindi in a generation.
With a State election approaching in November, our community is seeking clear and transparent answers about the future of local health services.
Research into hospital mergers has identified recurring risks for smaller regional hospitals, including loss of local autonomy, centralised decision-making, reduced funding and the gradual withdrawal of locally delivered services, particularly acute care and surgery. Many residents are concerned that ADH could face a gradual reduction in local influence, service scope and clinical activity over time.
Community members are also questioning whether alternative models have been fully explored. Through the Murrindindi Health Network, Council partnered with local hospitals, health providers and key agencies to develop a long-term plan for improving health outcomes across our dispersed communities. The resulting Murrindindi Heath Network Plan (see the Executive Summary here) identifies opportunities to strengthen services through greater collaboration between providers. Given this work, the community deserves to understand whether locally-led rural models were fully considered before a metropolitan-led merger emerged as the preferred option.
Alexandra District Health and Yea and District Memorial Hospital play a vital role in supporting our communities. They provide local access to healthcare, employ local people, attract visiting specialists and deliver services close to home for residents who may otherwise need to travel significant distances for care.
Yea Hospital demonstrates what can be achieved when rural health services have the autonomy to identify local needs and act on them. This year, it launched MouthMap, a world-first oral cancer screening program, and a Virtual Admission Ward pilot that allows suitable patients to receive hospital-level care closer to home. These initiatives emerged from local leadership and local decision-making.
The concern for our community is whether local services will retain the autonomy and authority to shape their own future.
Experience elsewhere suggests the greatest risk is the gradual loss of local influence over service planning, investment and innovation as priorities shift towards larger metropolitan centres. This concern has been heightened by the departure of many of the leaders who developed and consulted on the proposal, reducing community confidence that commitments made during consultation will be honoured over the long term. Residents are being asked to place their trust in future leaders who have not participated in the original design or assurances made to stakeholders.
As Mayor, I am asking both major parties to provide clear assurances on several important questions:
- What alternative governance and service delivery models have been considered, including locally-led rural partnerships and integration models? Is it your considered position that a merger of ADH with Eastern Health is indeed the preferred option?
- Can you guarantee that Alexandra Hospital will continue to provide inpatient and acute bed services, rather than seeing these functions progressively reduced or centralised elsewhere?
- Can you guarantee that existing surgical services, specialist services and the capacity to admit patients locally will be maintained?
- Can you guarantee that Alexandra will continue to be recognised and funded as a rural health service, with funding arrangements that reflect the realities of delivering healthcare in rural communities?
- Can you guarantee that local leadership, local decision-making and local accountability will be preserved?
- Can you guarantee that decisions affecting Alexandra and district will not simply be determined by a board where local representatives are outnumbered by directors whose primary responsibilities lie elsewhere, and what protections will exist to safeguard local services, local priorities and local decision-making?
- Can you guarantee that no existing service currently delivered by Alexandra District Health will be removed or relocated as a result of this merger?
Our community is seeking clear assurances that any changes will strengthen rural healthcare outcomes while preserving local influence over decisions that affect local services.
Our hospitals benefit from dedicated staff, volunteers, clinicians and local leaders who understand the needs of rural communities. These strengths should be protected and built upon, not diluted.
If this merger is intended to improve healthcare outcomes for Murrindindi residents, there should be no hesitation in explaining why this model represents the best available option and publicly guaranteeing the services, funding, local leadership and local voice that our community values most.
The people of Murrindindi Shire deserve this certainty before any decision is finalised.
Yours sincerely,
Cr Damien Gallagher
Mayor