BEECHWORTH Health Service (BHS) will receive $5.7 million funding this financial year from the State Government, an increase of $169,000 on last years amount. Cameron Butler, BHS CEO, welcomed the increased funding, particularly considering it followed last months announcement of $414,500 in funding to renovate 12 shared bathrooms and to create 24 individual bathroom suites at its aged care wing. We always welcome an increase in funding, Mr Butler said. We anticipate the increased revenue will match the increased costs we face to continue to provide the range of health services to the community. The funding also reflects the continued performance improvement of BHS in meeting its clients needs with substantial increases in service delivery across the board in 2014/15 compared to the previous year including a 57 per cent increase in physiotherapy client hours, 59 per cent increase in diabetes education client hours, 31 per cent increase in occupational therapy client hours and exceeding the services target for treatment of acute patients. The funding, which was announced by Jaclyn Symes (MLC, Northern Victoria), is part of the State Governments total hospital funding of $9.4 billion, which is $451.8 million (5 per cent) more than in 2014-15.