Australia's hospitals will get a billion-dollar upgrade to make sure they can deliver the best modern health services to patients if Labor wins the May federal election.
Labor has pointed to hospital facilities across the country that are ageing and in need of a revamp to make sure patients get the best care available.
Opposition leader Bill Shorten has promised to spend the money across every state and territory to build new wards with more beds, upgrade emergency departments and operating theatres, and establish new palliative care and mental health wards.
Federal Labor is already talking to state governments about what projects would make a tangible difference, he said on Monday.
"Our nurses and doctors and health workforce do an amazing job but they are being stretched by ageing facilities," he told AAP in a statement.
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"There's nothing more important than your health - I want people to get the care they need as close as possible to their home."
Labor's $1 billion commitment for capital works comes on top of a promise to restore core funding to hospital systems.
