A new $82 million clinical teaching building at La Trobe University will help relieve Australia's chronic allied health workforce shortage and provide cost-effective healthcare for people languishing on public waiting lists.
The La Trobe University Health Clinic, currently being built at La Trobe's Melbourne campus in Bundoora, will be the largest interdisciplinary university clinic in Victoria, helping train an additional 400 allied health professionals each year from 2026.
Operating as a state-of-the-art healthcare facility serving the public, the centre will provide students with clinical placements and valuable hands-on experience, ensuring they are confident and skilled to enter the workforce.
It will offer a broad range of allied health services to the public, including orthoptics, speech pathology, podiatry, psychology, dietetics and nutrition, physiotherapy, audiology and occupational therapy.
La Trobe's orthoptics students are already having an impact for public patients, partnering with the Royal Children's Hospital to help reduce wait times. One of only two Australian universities offering orthoptist training, the clinic will expand its services when the new building opens.
The clinical teaching building, due to be completed in July 2026, is part of La Trobe's $170 million investment in health innovation, which will deliver teaching, research and infrastructure to boost Australia's healthcare workforce by an extra 4000 professionals by 2030 in areas of need.
It also forms a key part of La Trobe University City, a major long-term development to transform the 235-hectare Bundoora campus into a vibrant city that will include world-class sports, research and innovation, education, commercial, retail and residential developments.
Vice-Chancellor Professor Theo Farrell said the University's strategic investment in health research and teaching positions La Trobe as a dynamic centre for innovation and collaboration.
"La Trobe is making a significant investment in health teaching, research and infrastructure across key areas of need in both metropolitan and regional areas, helping address Australia's serious health workforce crisis," Professor Farrell said.
"The new infrastructure in which we are investing, including our exciting new clinical teaching building in Bundoora, will offer huge community benefits, including regional development and jobs from capital investments. Our vision is helping to solve a national policy issue plaguing governments and policymakers."
La Trobe placed among the world's top 175 universities for Medical and Health in the prestigious 2025 Times Higher Education World University Rankings by Subject. The University is also one of the top institutions in the world to study Nursing, with the subject now ranked equal 42 in the QS World University Rankings by Subject 2025.
Professor Russ Hoye, Pro Vice-Chancellor of Health Innovation and Dean of the School of Allied Health, Human Services and Sport, said the new facility would streamline the journey from student to qualified health practitioner.
"This new facility will help prepare 400 additional allied health professionals and psychologists to enter the health workforce each year to 2030," Professor Hoye said.
"Our new state-of-the-art facilities will give our health students the very best environment to learn and succeed, which in turn will benefit the local workforce, leading to more and better healthcare professionals for communities across Australia."
Allied health is Australia's second-largest clinical workforce after nursing and midwifery. It includes professions such as physiotherapy, psychology, pharmacy, occupational therapy and social work.
There are about 300,000 registered allied health professionals in Australia but the federal Department of Health and Aged Care says there is already a shortage in some allied health areas and demand is expected to grow over the next decade.
Professor Hoye said many allied health workers had left their professions following the COVID-19 pandemic which, combined with an ageing population, had exponentially increased demand for students.
"Our clinical teaching building will be a valuable asset for both La Trobe and its local community," Professor Hoye said. "Our new health facilities will create more training placements for students, giving La Trobe a key role in growing Australia's health workforce and alleviating current staff shortages."
The clinical teaching building will be developed and financed by Plenary Group as the University's preferred master development partner for the $5 billion La Trobe University City project.
Plenary Group Managing Director Damien Augustinus said Plenary was excited to have commenced the first project under the master development partnership.
"We're proud to be partnering with La Trobe to deliver such an important project that delivers on the University's vision to be a centre for innovation and collaboration."
About La Trobe's Health Innovation Strategy
La Trobe's $170 million health innovation investment is delivering multiple new facilities across Victoria, including already operational Nursing and Midwifery clinical simulation facilities in Bundoora, Bendigo, Wodonga and Mildura, and a new Dentistry and Oral Health Clinical School in Bendigo.
The University is also investing heavily in research to support key areas of health innovation, including around the care economy (with the establishment of the Australia's first Care Economy Research Institute) and in rural health.
