Victoria has shifted gear into election mode, with political attack ads rolled out and millions of dollars promised for hospitals on the first full day of campaigning.

The coalition has pledged $500 million for a new hospital at Casey in the city’s southeast if it wins on November 26.

The proposed 150-bed facility would include theatre rooms, maternity services and an outpatient centre but not a full emergency department.

A specific site would be chosen after consultation with the local community and Monash Health.

Another $300 million has been earmarked by the coalition to build a new hospital in the city’s northeast to relieve pressure on the Northern Hospital in Epping.

The Labor campaign bus hit the road on Wednesday, bearing the slogan “doing what matters” and ferrying journalists and photographers to events.

Premier Daniel Andrews was on board with wife Catherine as the bus headed to its first stop in the regional city of Ballarat for a transport-related announcement.

The coalition is not running a media campaign bus this election but has parked a 1970s-style ambulance near state parliament, emblazoned with the word “ambulance” as well as “Ditch Dan” decals.

“No beds in here. Where are those 4000 (ICU) beds Daniel Andrews promised us,” Liberal frontbencher David Southwick said.

Ambulance union secretary Danny Hill questioned if the stunt was legal, with state laws banning use of the word “ambulance” on any vehicle not owned or operated by an ambulance service without written consent.

“Just wondering if (David Southwick) is actually a registered ambulance paramedic as well as a professor,” he said.

Labor has rolled out the first of its attack ads, linking Liberal leader Matthew Guy’s promise to deliver “real solutions” to the same promise from former prime ministers Tony Abbott and Scott Morrison.

Health has dominated the lead-up to the election campaign after the system was stretched by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Liberals and Nationals have promised at least $5 billion to upgrade or build some 20 hospitals, compared to Labor’s pledge to spend roughly $6 billion to upgrade and build about 10 hospitals.

– AAP