Vic opposition outbids govt on hospital

The Victorian coalition has outbid Labor on a new Bendigo Hospital, pledging to spend $100 million more than the government if elected in November.

Opposition Leader Ted Baillieu promised $630 million for the new central Victorian hospital, which would include 355 acute inpatient beds, a five-bed mother and baby unit, a new cancer centre and a Headspace youth mental health service.

"The new Bendigo Hospital will be a state-of-the-art facility, provide new health infrastructure across the Bendigo Health region to restore health services, and provide for the future health needs and the increasing demands of a growing population," he said on Friday.

"Despite eleven years of promises, Labor has sold the Bendigo region short, failing to build on a scale that would see proper future planning, or position the region for long-term health and research leadership."

The money for the hospital would be drawn from the coalition's promised $1 billion health infrastructure fund announced earlier this year.

In May, the government's $473 million commitment to the new hospital was one of its big ticket budget items.

This came in addition to $55 million announced for the hospital last year.

Under the government's plan the hospital would include 308 acute inpatient beds, an emergency department with eight operating theatres and a 75-bed mental health facility.

Premier John Brumby said the people of Bendigo and surrounding areas would not be better off if the coalition won power on November 27.

"Unquestionably they would be worse off under a coalition government," he told reporters in Melbourne's west.

"We have been building hospitals, whether it's the Children's Hospital, whether it's Box Hill Hospital, whether it's the Bendigo Hospital."

Treasurer John Lenders attacked the coalition's promise as uncosted, warning the coalition would cut services in other areas such as schools and police.

Nationals Leader Peter Ryan said in addition to about 800 jobs that would be during the hospital's construction the new hospital would offer increased opportunities for extra nurses, specialists and training doctors.