PRIME Minister Anthony Albanese came to town on Monday and visited St John of God Midland Public Hospital to announce a $335 million joint federal and state government expansion of the hospital.

“We will invest $200m to deliver more hospital beds, more operating theatres, more ICU and neonatal care beds, and a redesign of the obstetrics and neonatal unit,” Mr Albanese said.

“This is on top of $105m to upgrade the emergency department already committed by the Cook government, with a further $50m to be invested as part of this expansion.

“The expansion of the hospital will expand the availability of free, public health care and reduce ambulance ramping to meet the needs of patients in Perth’s growing eastern suburbs and the Wheatbelt.”

At the announcement the Prime Minister was flanked by WA Premier Roger Cook, Bullwinkel candidate Trish Cook and Member for Hasluck Tania Lawrence who is also up for re-election.

The public hospital is operated under a public-private partnership between the WA government and St John of God Health Care, opened in 2015.

Premier Roger Cook said his government would never stop working towards ensuring Western Australians live in the healthiest state in the country.

“We have the strongest economy in the nation – and the fastest growing population in the nation.

But we need to ensure our hospitals continue to grow to keep up with that.

“This redevelopment of St John of God Midland Public Hospital will significantly boost capacity – slashing wait times and tackling ambulance ramping while increasing the size of the ICU by 50 per cent.

“This announcement supports my government’s record health investment, which has delivered thousands of new doctors and nurses, as 700 new beds over the past three years – the equivalent of a new tertiary hospital.”

The announcement builds on the Albanese Labor Government’s commitment to delivering free, quality healthcare for Western Australians by boosting funding to all Western Australian public hospitals next year by 11 per cent to $3.62 billion, to help cut waiting lists, reduce waiting times in emergency rooms and manage ramping.

The Prime Minister said the government had already delivered eight Medicare urgent care clinics that have been visited by more than 150,000 Western Australians and will open another six across WA to provide free healthcare.