Skip to main content
New Women’s and Children’s Hospital Project
Acknowledgement
The Women's and Children's Hospital is located on the traditional lands for the Kaurna people, and we respect their spiritual relationship with their Country. We also acknowledge that the Kaurna people are the custodians of the Adelaide region, and that their cultural and heritage beliefs are still as important to the living Kaurna people today.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people should be aware that this website may contain images, voices and names of people who have passed away.

About the New WCH

Still 22 a1

The South Australian Government has committed to deliver a New Women’s and Children’s Hospital (New WCH).

The New WCH will be built at the SAPOL Barracks site, near the Royal Adelaide Hospital, providing space for both hospitals to expand in the future.

Key clinical benefits of the new hospital on the Barracks site include:

  • 25% bigger than the current WCH
  • Critical care services; Birthing, Theatres, 23-hour ward, PICU and NICU all on one floor
  • Dedicated Helipad with direct access to critical clinical areas
  • 56 more overnight beds than the current WCH
  • Future capacity to provide a further 20 beds
  • Dedicated sterilisation facilities
  • An integrated 4 bed Intensive Care Unit to enable women requiring high care to remain at the New WCH
  • Park Lands connectivity to assist families and enhance patient care
  • Eliminates the risk of interruption to RAH clinical services during construction
  • The New WCH and RAH will both have future capacity to expand.

We want to thank our clinicians, staff, consumers, key stakeholders and the South Australian community for your significant expertise, time and effort in getting us to this point.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the overall bed capacity at the New WCH?

The New WCH will have 414 overnight beds, 56 more than the current Women’s and Children’s Hospital, plus a 20-bed future expansion capacity.

How many car park spaces will there be in the new hospital?

The purpose-built 1,300 space car park facility will provide significantly more parking capacity for staff and visitors, compared to the current Women’s and Children’s Hospital car park which has about 940 spaces. The building’s thoughtful design will complement the surrounding Park Lands.

When will the new hospital be ready?

Construction is scheduled for completion around 2030-2031.

How will the New WCH interact with the Park Lands?

The location of the new hospital presents a great opportunity to integrate with the surrounding Park Lands. Key features of the new hospital’s external design include new landscaping, a playground, family-friendly outdoor spaces, and an enhanced Park Lands’ shared path network.

Providing the new hospital with direct access into the Park Lands provides a fabulous healing resource that is available to all patients and families seven days a week.

The new hospital building provides maximum exposure to light, park and city views and access to the Park Lands.

Providing access to the Park Lands also provides a very important Connection to Country for our Aboriginal consumers, their families and community.

Will the New WCH be an all-electric hospital?

The New WCH will be the first 100% electric public hospital in South Australia.

The new hospital will be connected to an electricity source that is either supplied from the State’s highly renewable electricity grid or through on-site electricity generation, and there will not be a requirement to access the State’s gas network. This means the heating, hot water and kitchen functions within the new building will not be powered by fossil fuels.

The State Government’s commitment to a 100 percent renewable electricity grid by 2030 and SA Water’s zero emissions future will mean the New WCH will be the most sustainable major public hospital in Australia.

Project Background

The current Women’s and Children’s Hospital (WCH), located in North Adelaide, began as the Adelaide Children’s Hospital in 1878, followed by the opening of the Queen Victoria Hospital in 1902.

In March 1989, the Women’s and Children’s Hospital was formed through an amalgamation of the Queen Victoria Hospital and the Adelaide Children’s Hospital. Merging these facilities paved the way for the provision of state of the art healthcare in one location.

The WCH’s infrastructure is ageing and needs to be rebuilt to ensure we can continue to deliver high-quality care and services for many years to come.

Some of the challenges posed by the existing WCH site include:

  • The WCH does not have a facility for a women’s Intensive Care Unit (ICU), and relevant cases need to be transferred to the Royal Adelaide Hospital (RAH).
  • The infrastructure is ageing, requiring continual and costly repairs.
  • There is no helipad at the WCH, which can result in delays for patients as they need to be flown in to the RAH and transferred by ambulance to WCH.
  • Less than optimal logistic flows between areas and departments within the WCH.