The new Women's and Children's Hospital (nWCH) will have the capacity to treat approximately 21,400 additional patients a year and will feature more than 1,200 car parks and a bridge over the rail line that will enable families to access Adelaide's parklands for respite and play.
Premier Steven Marshall said the new design features are revealed in the nWCH Master Plan, which he released today, marking another major milestone in the project.
"The Master Plan outlines key details about the benefits this state-of-the-art hospital will deliver for South Australian women, children and families," Premier Marshall said.
"The nWCH will be significantly larger than the current hospital, with the footprint growing from 96,000m2 to 108,000m2. Some non-clinical services will be relocated offsite, resulting in even more space for patient treatment areas.
"The new hospital has 59 more treatment spaces than the current hospital, allowing for approximately 3,400 more inpatient admissions and 18,000 additional Emergency Department attendances a year.
"My Government has an unwavering commitment to building a hospital that meets the needs of South Australian families and of which our great State can be proud.
"Our record $7.4 billion health spend in this year's Budget is ensuring we can deliver better health outcomes in the short, medium and long-term for all South Australians."
The total $1.95 billion* cost of the hospital includes the base build, as well as other delivery costs such as the multi-level carpark, bridge and other roadworks, the parklands link, biomedical engineering, furniture, fittings, equipment, IT, contingency costs and relocation costs.
Minister for Health and Wellbeing Stephen Wade said the huge Marshall Government investment would allow the nWCH to be co-located with the Royal Adelaide Hospital (RAH) and within the world-class BioMed City, which is one of the largest health and life science clusters in the southern hemisphere.
"The Women's and Children's Hospital was the first Australian hospital specialising in health services for women, babies, children and young people, and the facility has provided excellent care to families for more than 140 years. However, the aging infrastructure and inflexibility of the current site does not reflect the needs of the South Australian community today," Minister Wade said.
"The new hospital will have a substantial positive impact on the quality of tertiary health services being delivered to women and children in metropolitan Adelaide and rural and regional South Australia."
Key features of the nWCH include:
- FIVE HUNDRED treatment spaces - 59 more than the current site
- AN EMERGENCY DEPARTMENT almost double the size of the current ED (24 to 43 treatment spaces)
- MORE beds, MORE neonatal cots, MORE theatres, MORE recovery bays
- ONE HUNDRED AND SEVENTY outpatient rooms - 30 more than the current site
- FOURTEEN Women's Assessment Service spaces
- IN-ROOM ACCOMMODATION for parents or carers to stay with a baby or child in wards, Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) and Special Care Baby Unit
- PARENT ACCOMMODATION SUITE including bedrooms with ensuite bathrooms
- PARENT LOUNGES AND KITCHEN near NICU
- 1,215 CAR PARKS - almost double what is available at the current site
- APPROX. 108,000sqm (excl. car park and outdoor space) - up from 96,000sq
- TWELVE floors
- A BRIDGE over the rail line that will enable children and families to cross from the nWCH to Adelaide's parklands for respite and play
- TWO AIR LINK BRIDGES to connect the nWCH to the RAH for use of the helipad, Intensive Care Unit and other clinical services
- MAIN ENTRY on Level 3 with views to the western parklands and access to a landscaped play space, retail and consumer facilities
- EMERGENCY vehicle access to the ED at the rear of the hospital
- MORE children's play areas, MORE outdoor areas, MORE respite areas
- AUSTRALIA'S FIRST 100 percent electrically powered hospital
Chair of the Women's and Children's Health Network (WCHN) Governing Board, Jim Birch, acknowledged the significant input of the hospital's clinicians, other staff, consumers and volunteers during the first stage of consultation.
"Building a new hospital is a challenging and exciting process, and that's why we will continue to work with our doctors, nurses, staff and consumers during all phases of the project to ensure we build a new hospital that is tailored to our unique needs,'' Mr Birch said.
CEO of the Women's and Children's Health Network, Lindsey Gough, said the project is now entering the Concept Design Phase, which will identify where individual departments will be located and the area that they will occupy within each floor of the building.
"Our hospital has a proud heritage of delivering world-class treatment to the South Australian community and we are now another step closer to creating a hospital that matches the care offered by our dedicated doctors and nurses," Ms Gough said.
"Everyone within our Network wants the same thing – to deliver the best possible hospital for our patients and their families, and I'm excited to continue on the journey to our new facility with all our clinicians, staff and consumers."
It's been determined that the nWCH will share a number of services with the RAH including kitchen and food, back of house and sterilisation services.
*Four cost peer reviews were commissioned into the nWCH costing – two independent reviews and two Department for Infrastructure and Transport reviews, which all support the cost estimate. The costing is subject to a further Infrastructure South Australia review, which may impact estimated project costs.
