Ongoing problems with the antiquated building - including poor lighting, lack of on-site sterilisation and narrow corridors that make it impossible to fit an ambulance stretcher in case of an emergency - have made it difficult for the board of Western Region Health Centre (WRHC) to take on the risks of continued operation.

The centre is in a heritage-listed building, limiting what can be done on the Geelong Road site. A plan to relocate all dental services to the WRHC's Paisley Street clinic at a cost of $9million was "shovel ready" and funding had been promised by the former Labor state government. But Labor lost the election and in its first budget in May last year, the new Liberal government did not commit to funding the project.

But Liberal MP Andrew Elsbury has told the Weekly a committee has been formed to investigate options for the site, with recommendations to be put to Health Minister David Davis in April.

Committee members include representatives from the Department of Health, public oral health agency Dental Health Services Victoria and the WRHC. The building has five dental chairs and in a year the clinic treats more than 10,000 people who can't afford private care, including many from refugee and migrant backgrounds with complex dental problems.

Mr Elsbury said all options were on the table, including the WRHC's proposed relocation and construction at Paisley Street. "This is a major project so we want to get it right," he said. "We've got to get in place what we're going to do in the interim to get the services through the next 12 to 24 months when we've still got to provide dental services during the centre's construction." Asked why it took the Liberal government more than a year to address the looming health crisis, Mr Elsbury said Labor had had 11 years to act.