Royal Women's Hospital, Melbourne

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The Royal Women's Hospital, located in the Melbourne suburb of Carlton, is Australia's largest specialist women's hospital, offering a full range of services in maternity, gynaecology, neonatal care and women's health. It is a major teaching hospital with links to the University of Melbourne and La Trobe University. Co-located in the same building is the Frances Perry Private Hospital, a 69 bed private hospital for women.

[edit] History

The hospital was established at Eastern Hill by doctors Richard Tracy and John Maund on 19 August 1856 as a place where under-privileged women could give birth with proper medical attention. The doctors were assisted by a group of women led by Mrs Frances Perry, the wife of the Bishop of Melbourne. The original title for the hospital was the Melbourne Lying-in Hospital and Infirmary for Diseases Peculiar to Women and Children. In 1858 it was relocated to its present site in Carlton. In March 1884, the hospital was renamed The Hospital for Women, with the royal title being conferred on 6 September 1954. The Royal Women's Hospital and Frances Perry Private Hospital will move to a new site adjacent to Royal Melbourne Hospital in Parkville in 2008.