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.