South Australia’s new bigger and better Women’s and Children’s Hospital takes an important next step today with the release of a Master Plan and ‘block and stack’ proposed initial floor layout for consultation.
A new flyover showing early concept designs of the hospital’s exterior has also been unveiled.
The documents contain key details of the new hospital which will be built on a site encompassing the Thebarton Police Barracks – twice as big as the Royal Adelaide Hospital West site that was proposed by the former government.
The larger site was selected by the Malinauskas Labor Government last year, to allow a much bigger and better-designed hospital for the long-term, with room for both the WCH and the RAH to expand in the future, which was not possible under the Liberals’ plan.
Importantly, the larger site now allows all critical care services to be co-located on one floor, allowing better patient flow between these crucial ‘hot floor’ services.
The ‘block and stack’ maps out where clinical services and departments could be located within each of the new building’s 10 levels.
The new hospital will also be in close proximity to the Royal Adelaide Hospital and the Adelaide BioMed City.
Through development of the police barracks site, more than 30,000 square metres of Park Lands that are currently inaccessible will be restored and open to the public.
This will provide a direct connection to open, landscaped areas with play facilities for families, enhancing patient care, recovery, and wellbeing.
Key features of the new WCH include:
*25 per cent bigger in size than the current hospital
*additional 56 overnight beds, with future capacity for a further 20
*larger Emergency Department with 43 treatment spaces
*critical care services all on one floor – including birthing, theatres, Paediatric ICU and Neonatal ICU
*four-bed integrated Intensive Care Unit for women, co-located with the Paediatric ICU enabling women requiring high-level care to remain at the new WCH
*dedicated Heliport with direct access to critical clinical areas
*future proofing for cardiac surgery
*new larger car park
A large majority of the feedback and clinical planning that was undertaken for the previously selected site has been used to inform these new concept design layout plans.
Clinicians, staff, consumers, and volunteers are encouraged to provide feedback on the proposed location of clinical spaces.
Consultation on the plans is open for a three-week period, closing on 19 June 2023.
For more information and to provide your feedback on the internal layout designs visit the new WCH website.
The new flyover and images can be found here.
Quotes
Attributable to Peter Malinauskas
The new WCH will provide the best possible healthcare in a new world-class facility for South Australian women, children, and families for generations to come.
Our vision is to build a new hospital for the long-term that is tailored to the needs of patients and their families.
We’ve listened to our clinicians and consumers and are now building a bigger hospital with greater capacity that will deliver critical care services such as birthing, theatres, paediatric ICU, neonatal ICU, and an ICU for women - all on one dedicated floor.
Attributable to Chris Picton
Delivering high quality health services to women, children and babies is our absolute priority.
Consulting with staff and the community is important in getting the design layout right and we are taking the advice of clinicians to ensure we build the best hospital possible for the long-term.
The Master Plan shows how the new hospital will provide family-friendly spaces and opportunities for connection to nature with direct access into the Park Lands.
We will continue to listen closely to feedback during this next phase to ensure we have the right connections and flow within our new hospital to enable the best patient care.
Attributable to WCHN Medical Head of Unit Metabolic Medicine and Clinical Adviser for new WCH project, Dr Drago Bratkovic
This is an exciting stage for staff as we move from the planning phase into the early design process for the new site, focusing on how our hospital can best meet current health needs and be ready for future growth.
We are undertaking clinical planning to reflect clinical priorities and determine the optimal functional relationships required to deliver the right care for our patients.
Having all critical care services on one floor is a fundamental positive change to the layout and will allow for greatly improved quality and safety.
Building the new hospital on a bigger site will enable us to retain important specialised clinical support services whilst still remaining closely co-located with the RAH and health precinct.
Attributable to nWCH Project Director, Brendan Hewitt
These early design plans have been informed by a number of factors through engagement with advisory groups and other key stakeholders, and we are eager to receive additional feedback from our clinicians, consumers, and community on this next stage of consultation as well plan for our future together.
The release of the Master Plan considers existing site conditions and infrastructure, key clinical connections, utilities, environmental and cultural considerations, transport, and site access.
We encourage all our staff to provide feedback on these ‘block and stack’ plans to ensure we are appropriately mapping out the relevant clinical services and departments to deliver the best health outcomes for our patients.
