Nurse Bernie Carroll is taking Pete and Jude's blood pressure while they receive life-saving kidney treatment inside Daylesford Hospital.
She jokes Pete looks like a "cyborg" hooked up to the dialysis machine, as she struggles to move around all the medical equipment in the tiny room, which is at capacity.
The frustrating thing is, there's only enough space for three patients on the ward.
"We have one of the smallest dialysis rooms in the state, we can only dialysis three patients at a time and with renal failure increasing we need more," Ms Carroll says as the four-hour treatment comes to an end.
"Most dialysis rooms have a shower, a toilet and a kitchenette … it's quite unsafe at the moment."
It is a common complaint from healthcare staff as you move around the dilapidated 160-year-old hospital.
"I know where to walk to avoid the cracks in the floor," one worker jokes, as she struggles with a food trolley after lunchtime.
Another nurse laughs when she hears the ABC is doing a story about another community fight for a new hospital, which has not been upgraded for more than 20 years despite a pandemic population boom.
"Good luck," the nurse says, devoid of hope after watching five state elections pass by with no major renovations.
The state's beleaguered health system is shaping up to be a big issue at the November election, but in Daylesford, where the strain is being particularly felt, the local community has lost count of the number of campaigns it has launched to try to get the government funding it needs for an upgrade.
Community says residents 'being neglected'
Residents raised $100,000 in eight weeks to design plans for the $75 million health precinct, so it can be ready to go if the funding comes.
"Quite frankly our residents are sick of being neglected, overlooked and taken for granted," chair of the Daylesford Hospital Upgrade Community Campaign Committee and Hepburn Shire councillor Lesley Hewitt said.
"We see health being a priority for both the Liberal and Labor parties but people in Daylesford have missed out, we are sick of the focus on metropolitan areas," she said.
Ageing infrastructure means the hospital can no longer provide the services it once did, including maternity, while several beds cannot be used because of a lack of infection-control equipment.
According to hospital data, demand for urgent care services in Daylesford increased by 17 per cent in the past year.
"We shouldn't be disadvantaged by our postcode, we have a growing and ageing population and the need for these services are only increasing," Ms Hewitt said.
Glenda Rozen was born in the hospital nearly seven decades ago and her husband received some treatment there before he died 18 months ago.
"I was in real estate for 30 years here and one of my best spiels for people wanting to move to Daylesford was we have a great hospital," she said.
"That's what a lot of people were looking for as they retired and wanted to move out of the city – but we can't say that anymore."
Ms Rozen's husband was among many who had to travel outside of Daylesford to get treatment for basic services, including to Melbourne and Ballarat — which is undergoing a $541 million redevelopment — putting pressure on their already overwhelmed hospitals.
"It really isn't fit for purpose," she said.
Health system struggling to keep up with growing population
Daylesford welcomed a swarm of tree-changers during the pandemic, but even before COVID-19 its population had increased nearly 9 per cent in the five years to 2021.
The hospital helped save local real estate agent Will Walton from cardiac arrest.
"About 80 per cent of people buying homes in Daylesford during the pandemic bought them to live in," he said.
"The town is a lot busier mid-week and on the weekends it is seven times the size with tourism, but our ambulance services also aren't up to scratch … so we need to upgrade one."
Hepburn Shire residents wait on average 21 minutes and 25 seconds for an ambulance after they call triple-0 for an urgent emergency, according to the latest response time data.
The Daylesford Hospital masterplan includes new acute wards, aged care upgrades and new community health facilities.
The Victorian government provided $4.5 million in funding through the Regional Health Infrastructure Fund in October last year to upgrade the hospital's operating theatre, but that work is yet to begin.
Daylesford is in the safe Labor seat of Macedon, held by new Health Minister Mary-Anne Thomas.
Residents are frustrated watching regional hospitals in nearby areas get major funding, including in the marginal seat of Ripon where the government is building a new $100 million hospital.
"We watch Maryborough receive bucketloads of money for a new hospital, why them and not us?" Ms Rozen asked.
"Our population is growing much faster, and we have a lot more tourists coming here."
No new funding for Daylesford Hospital
Premier Daniel Andrews confirmed the Victorian government had no plans to fund the project ahead of the November election and said it is "patients" that drive the government's funding decisions, not the "pendulum".
"Our government introduced the regional infrastructure fund, which has increased to $800 million this year. Daylesford along with all regional health services can apply for that new round of funding," he said.
"There are many different government-funded projects in areas that have never, and perhaps will never, support our side of politics."
The Victorian opposition has promised to fund several regional hospital upgrades if it wins government in November, including St Arnaud in the marginal seat of Ripon as well as in Mildura and West Gippsland.
It has not announced any funding pledges for the Daylesford Hospital, despite recently meeting with the hospital committee.
Susan Craven from the Central Highlands Rural Health Advisory Committee said the hospital did not need "world-class facilities", just ordinary working equipment.
"People in the country are used to making do, and this hospital has been making do now for 20 years with substandard facilities," she said.
"We simply can't make do any longer, we need the government to step in and provide the community with the services it needs to survive."
