The Victorian Health Minister has lauded Albury hospital's new emergency department as "absolutely best in class" at its official opening.
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Mary-Anne Thomas drew back a curtain on a plaque to open the $36 million casualty area funded by the Victorian and NSW governments.
She told an audience including Albury MP Justin Clancy, Wodonga mayor Ron Mildren, Albury Council chief executive Frank Zaknich and Towong Shire chief executive Juliana Phelps, the emergency department "ticks all the boxes" for being a calming, welcoming and safe environment.
"For the first time ever, the people of Albury-Wodonga will now have a dedicated triage waiting space for children, staffed by specialist paediatricians and paediatric nurses," Ms Thomas said.
Albury Wodonga Health chief executive Bill Appleby told those gathered there was incredible excitement among staff about the new hub, which will open to patients on Wednesday, April 10.
"The opening of this state of the art facility signifies a new chapter in our commitment to providing high quality healthcare services for the border communities that we are here to serve," Mr Appleby said.
An open day allowing the community to inspect the emergency department, which has 42 treatment areas, including an eye room to treat those with the beetle-triggering Christmas eye condition, will be held on Saturday, April 6.
More than 300 people have reserved a place on tours that will run from 9am to midday and need to be booked via the Humantix website.
Mr Appleby told media he would be on hand for the open day.
"I will be here, I will actually be tour guide and chief cook of the sausages," he said.
Ms Thomas citing a four-bed resuscitation zone, six to eight bed fast track beds and 16 acute care beds would "deliver the emergency department capacity that this health services needs now and into the future".
Representatives of lobby group Better Border Health were among the observers at the opening.
Member Di Thomas had planned to hand a letter to Ms Thomas raising hospital planning concerns, however she gave it to a Victorian Health Building Authority figure who passed it to the minister.
The letter stated "our clinicians and community know the new Albury emergency department only caters for the existing shortfall in services" and asked Ms Thomas and her NSW counterpart Ryan Park to "urgently reconsider the costly, wasteful redevelopment of the Albury campus".
Minister Thomas said she was committed to the building of a new clinical services tower at the Albury hospital.
"Acute services will be delivered here at the Albury site where we have existing infrastructure, indeed there is so much existing infrastructure here it only makes sense to deliver the new clinical services tower on this site," Ms Thomas said.
Mr Park was absent from the opening with NSW Health executive director of strategic reform and planning Vince McTaggart the most senior government representative from north of the Murray River.
