St John’s hospital upgrade opens

ST John of God Ballarat Hospital’s new Wexford Wing has opened to the public after seven years of planning and construction.

The redevelopment is designed to meet the needs of Ballarat’s growing community and increase the hospital’s capacity to provide care.

The new facilities include a medical services building, 10-bed intensive care unit and coronary care unit, two operating theatres, a 30-bed in-patient ward, and an expanded recovery room.

A high-tech catheter lab and central sterile services department have also opened within the last year at the hospital, supporting cardiac diagnostic and intervention procedures.

“It’s actually quite thrilling to see it completed,” said St John of God Ballarat Hospital CEO Maria Noonan.

“You spend years planning it, designing it, redesigning it, and then see it coming up from the ground up, and it takes a long time before you actually get the building.

“It’s just a great culmination of an amazing amount of hard work.”

The opening of the wing was celebrated with a smoking ceremony and Welcome to Country, led by Wadawurrung woman Macaylah Johnson, and a blessing from Bishop of Ballarat, Paul Bird.

Ms Noonan said these new facilities will be critical as Ballarat’s population continues to increase.

“It really is important to meet our needs,” she said.

“We’ve been running at full capacity for a long time now, our theatres are at capacity, our beds are at capacity, our emergency department and just like Ballarat Health Services is the same.

“It just allows us to move into the future with confidence really, and we’re really excited by that.”