Westmead Hospital

Westmead Hospital
NSW Health
Westmead Hospital
Geography
Location	Westmead, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
Coordinates	33°48′16″S 150°59′19″E / 33.8045°S 150.9886°E / -33.8045; 150.9886Coordinates: 33°48′16″S 150°59′19″E / 33.8045°S 150.9886°E / -33.8045; 150.9886
Organisation
Care system	Public Medicare (Australia)
Hospital type	Teaching
Affiliated university	University of Sydney
Services
Emergency department	Yes
Beds	975
History
Founded	1978
Links
Website	http://www.swahs.health.nsw.gov.au/westmead/
Lists	Hospitals in Australia

Westmead Hospital is a major 975 bed tertiary hospital in Sydney, Australia, opened on 10 November 1978 by the then Premier, Neville Wran, and guest of honour was former Prime Minister Gough Whitlam.^[1] It is a teaching hospital of Sydney Medical School at the University of Sydney and forms part of the Western Sydney Local Health District.^[2]

The hospital serves a population of 1.85m people and is located on one of the largest health and hospital campuses in Australia.^[3] In 2008/09, Westmead Hospital provided more than 1.3m occasions of care to outpatients, in addition to 86,392 inpatients. Annually, there are around 14,000 medical operations, in excess of 4,600 births, more than 55,000 presentations to emergency department of which nearly one-third are admitted to hospital.^[4]

Westmead Hospital is located on the junction of Darcy and Hawkesbury Roads in Westmead and provides a full range of tertiary medical and dental services except for paediatrics which is serviced by the adjacent Children's Hospital at Westmead, relocated from Camperdown to Westmead in 1995. The Hospital includes a large Dental Clinical School and extensive clinical pathology and medical research facilities. Located nearby are the Cumberland Hospital (providing outpatient and inpatient psychiatric care), NETS (the statewide neonatal and paediatric emergency transport service) and Westmead Private Hospital, a division of Ramsay Health Care.

History

Parramatta

The history of health service in western Sydney began with a tent hospital established in Parramatta to meet the medical needs of convicts, military personnel, and early settlers in 1789. The hospital at Parramatta saw many changes over the years, firstly in 1818, it was known as the Colonial Hospital and later, in 1897, the hospital was expanded and became known as the Parramatta District Hospital.^[5]

As population expanded in Sydney's west, the services provided at Parramatta became inadequate to meet demand.^[6] The hospital was the first major tertiary referral health centre in outer Sydney. Prior to its exiistence, referral health services were provided in inner-city centres such as the Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, the Prince of Wales Hospital, Sydney Hospital, Royal North Shore Hospital and St Vincent's Hospital.

Westmead

In a speech delivered at the Blacktown Civic Centre, on 29 April 1974, Whitlam stated:

In the last Budget we set aside $4 million to proceed with the building of a teaching hospital at Westmead. Though this project has been planned by the (Askin) NSW State (Liberal) government for six years, that government has informed us that they are unable to spend the money we have provided. Our offer still stands. The money is there. It is up to the NSW State government to use it.^[7]

Askin eventually accepted Whitlam's offer of funds, however he was no longer Premier at the time of its completion. The final cost was about $175 million.^[1]

With the establishment of Westmead Hospital on 10 November 1978 (initially known as the Westmead Centre), the role of Parramatta Hospital changed. Acute services were relocated to Westmead Hospital with the Parramatta building continuing to function as the rehabilitation arm of Westmead Hospital. In 1991, all services moved out of the old Parramatta Hospital and in 1995 the building was decommissioned.

Area Health Services

Westmead Hospital, together with the Parramatta Hospital, was initially governed by a local hospital Board. When local boards were restructured into Area Health Services by the New South Wales state government, Westmead Hospital became part of the Western Sydney Area Health Service, together with Westmead Dental Hospital, Cumberland Hospital (mental health services), district hospitals at Blacktown, Auburn and Mount Druitt. In 2005, the boundaries of the Area Health Services were changed, and, up until 31 December 2010, Westmead Hospital was one of two tertiary teaching hospitals (together with Nepean Hospital in Penrith), part of the Sydney West Area Health Service.

Local Hospital District

Following the formation of Local Health Networks on 1 January 2011, Westmead Hospital became part of the Western Sydney Local '''Health''' District, together with Westmead Dental Hospital, and district hospitals at Blacktown, Auburn and Mount Druitt.^[2]

Major refurbishments

In 2004, a contract worth in excess of A$142 million^[8] for refurbishment and development of new facilities at Westmead Hospital was awarded to Theiss Pty Limited, a subsidiary of Leighton Holdings Limited. As works were nearly completion in July 2007, NSW Minister for Health, Reba Meagher together with NSW Member for Parramatta Tanya Gadiel inspected the new Women's Health and Newborn Care Centre that provides a new birthing unit, special care nursery and neonatal intensive care unit, 41-bed maternity ward, antenatal and gynaecology inpatient wards and ambulatory care clinics in the one location. It is expected that by 2011, more than 5,000 babies will be born at Westmead Hospital each year.^[9]

Refurbishment of cancer wards at Westmead Hospital occurred at around the same time; based on the US-style comprehensive cancer centre model which combines cutting-edge services with a patient-friendly approach. In 2011, the facilities were renamed as the Crown Princess Mary Cancer Centre Westmead.^[10] Inspecting the facilities during 2007, Ms Meagher stated:^[9]

This means that patient care at every level will be organised to ensure smooth transition between hospital inpatient services, community treatment or palliative care as people's care needs change. The co-location of a range of speciality cancer services means patients will be able to receive diagnoses and a range of treatments and rehabilitation without the need to make separate trips.

Other facilities to be refurbished under the Theiss contract included facilities for intensive care and renal treatments.

In March 2012, a food-court style emporium was opened on the ground level precinct introducing a wide variety of cuisines to the standard hospital fare, including a sweets and desserts cafe, kebabs, pizza, fresh salads and sandwich bar, gelato station, and various selections of hot foods. A number of retail stores including a hair and beauty salon, phones outlet, pharmacy and convenience store is also under development.^[11][12]

Services

CareFlight air ambulance

As well as General Wards, there are a range of high dependency wards at Westmead Hospital including a Coronary Care Unit, an Intensive Care Unit, a Special Care Nursery, High Dependency Wards, and a Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. For a full list of service, refer to the table in links below.

Westmead Emergency Department is one of the busiest in Australia seeing over 52,000 adult patients annually.^[13] It is supported by tertiary specialist services including 24 hour/7 days per week interventional cardiology, trauma services, cardiothoracic surgery, neurosurgery and toxicology.^[14]

Westmead Medical Research Foundation provides fundraising support and community advocacy for medical research and patient care at Westmead.^[15]

Westmead Hospital is the base for the New South Wales helicopter operations of CareFlight air ambulance service. Its aircraft and trained medical and operational crews respond to emergencies threatening the life, health and safety of people caused through medical emergency, illness, natural disaster, accidents or mishap. Within Westmead Hospital exists the Trauma Service, which provides research and education of injury prevention, and death statistics.

Teaching and research

Since its establishment in 1978, the Westmead Clinical School of Sydney University at Westmead Hospital has been a place of innovation and growth.^[16] The Faculty of Medicine is Australia's oldest and largest medical faculty (established as Sydney Medical School in 1856)^[17] undertaking teaching and research in health and medicine of international standing. As part of the Western Clinical School, teaching facilities at Westmead form an integral part of education as the largest of the University’s centres of clinical care in Sydney. The University supported the establishment of research clinicians in all key staff specialist postings at the Hospital in 1978.

The Hospital accepted its first dental patients in 1980. The Westmead Hospital Dental Clinical School (now the Westmead Centre for Oral Health) has become a major facility for the Faculty of Dentistry for both undergraduate and postgraduate education and training.^[18]

Medical research has been taking place at Westmead Hospital since the early 1980s. In 1996, medical research facilities were consolidated through the establishment of the Westmead Millennium Institute for Medical Research (WMI). Initially with just 60 scientists and doctors, the Institute now has over 450 medical research scientists.^[19]

References

External links

• Westmead Hospital
• Westmead Millennium Institute for Medical Research
• Sydney University, Faculty of Medicine, Western Clinical School
• Westmead Medical Research Foundation
• Brain Dynamics Centre
• Centre for Vision Research
• Institute for Clinical Pathology and Medical Research
• CareFlight International