Chair of the SWH advisory committee, upper house member for Western Victoria James Purcell, said community consultation would begin soon.

"Our job is to drive the planning phase of the stage two development to see the project to shovel ready and to work to secure funding for the construction to begin," Mr Purcell said.

"It's important that our community is involved in these early stage consultations so we can get some positive input into the service expectations and improvements that are needed.

"Asking the community for their opinions and needs will give us a solid direction for future expansion and allow us to present options that will really make a difference to healthcare services.”

The committee was formed in July to develop a stage two master plan after the state government allocated $7.5 million in its May budget for this task. The master plan includes putting together a feasibility study, tender documentation and other components to make the project shovel ready.

Joining Mr Purcell on the committee is SWH chief executive Craig Fraser, SWH board member Russell Worland, Peter's Project chairman Peter Headen and Peter's Project campaigner Vicki Jellie.  

The committee held its second meeting last week and will distribute a patient experience and service expectation questionnaire into the community. 

Mr Purcell said the committee had been briefed on the planning requirements by the Department of Health and Human Services.

Last week, Mr Fraser was announced as the new chief executive of SWH, a position he had held in an interim role. Mr Purcell welcomed Mr Fraser onto the committee. "I'd also like to take the opportunity to congratulate Craig Fraser on his recent appointment as CEO at South West Healthcare,” Mr Purcell said. “We look forward to working with him on the stage two development project.”

SWH board chairman John Maher said Mr Fraser had a passion to grow and improve the health service and was excited by the master-planning for the potential stage two redevelopment.