By Ewen McRae
Almost one year after complaints were first raised about noise from the Bacchus Marsh Hospital’s air filtration system, residents say nothing has changed.
Star Weekly reported in March 2019 that a high-pitched whining noise from the revamped operating theatres at the hospital had led some residents to sleep with earplugs in, and caused ongoing discomfort.
One resident, who asked not to be named, said while residents were supportive of the hospital and the upgrades, frustration with the ongoing noise was becoming overwhelming.
“We were really happy with the investment in the hospital, and we’re really supportive of everything the hospital is doing,” the resident said.
“But we’re now almost 12 months on from the hospital first telling us it will all be fixed soon, and the noise is still there. It’s far worse in summer too, on a hot and humid day it sounds like it’s a plane taxiing for take-off.
“It just seems like they don’t have a solution. It’s improved marginally but the problem is still there. Our position has always been that we don’t want these services to go – they’re an essential community service – but after a year we just want the noise to stop.”
Testing from the Environment Protection Authority last year confirmed the noise from the filtration system was 12dB above acceptable levels and an abatement notice was issued in September 2019 to lower the noise levels.
Djerriwarrh Health Services chief executive Belinda Scott said the hospital had spent about $55,000 on trying to rectify the issue, and was hopeful a solution was not far away.
“We’ve done an extensive amount of work, but unfortunately we remain outside the night-time noise limit,” Ms Scott said. “We’ve had a report from an acoustic engineer, and we’ve followed all the recommendations in their report, and we’re now awaiting the results of the latest report which was done two weeks ago.
“We’re committed to resolving this issue, but we need to await this latest report to see if it will be a cost issue to Djerriwarrh or if it’s a design issue from the engineer. Unfortunately it is painstakingly slow while every part of the system is looked at.
“We’re a lot closer, but we’re not there yet.”
The hospital said it was also receiving assistance from EPA noise specialists.
