By Callum Ludwig
A new free specialist Women’s Health Clinic is coming to the east, with Eastern Health named as one of the next five health services to open up their new health facility.
First announced in June 2023, the clinic is expected to commence practice in early 2025.
Eastern Health’s Director of Operations for Women and Children Christine Lamotte said these services will help greatly improve the quality of life for women in our community.
“We are excited to be able to move forward in improving the care of women across Victoria and removing the barriers women face when trying to access specialist care,” she said.
Eastern Health Blackburn will be the site for the Women’s Health Clinic that will service the east and it will be the best provider of services relating to menopause, fertility, pelvic pain, endometriosis and sexual health, in addition to the gynaecology and pregnancy choices services already operating at the Blackburn site.
“We know the gender health gap is real – that is why we’re offering these important services under one roof to give Victorian women easier access to the wide-ranging specialist treatments they so desperately need,” Minister for Health Mary-Anne Thomas said.
The clinic is one of 20 announced by the Victorian Government in mid-2023, coming as part of the second batch of five clinics set to be opened as part of a four-year plan.
The first five of 20 women’s health clinics were launched at the Northern Hospital, Royal Women’s Hospital, Frankston Hospital, Barwon Health Geelong and Grampians Health in 2024, while Goulburn Valley Health, Western Health Sunshine, Monash Health and Central Highlands Rural Health are the other recipients who will be next to open their clinics.
The clinics announced as part of a broader package to reform women’s healthcare in the state,, which has also included a partnership with BreastScreen to deliver a mobile women’s health clinic. BreastScreen’s Mobile Screening Van already visited Warburton in February this year.