The moment the community has all been waiting for…

BASS Coast residents will have the exciting chance to see inside the new Wonthaggi Hospital Expansion (WHE). 

The WHE will be open to the public to explore and enjoy at a Community Open Day on Saturday, November 12, from 10am to 4pm. 

The day will be a celebration of this first-class healthcare facility that will be a game-changer in the delivery of healthcare in our region. 

The $115m facility will start to treat patients in December this year and will ultimately feature: 

• A new Emergency Department that is four times the size of the current department with space for future capacity 

• A new Acute Ward with 32 beds with capacity for paediatrics in the longer-term 

• Three new operating theatres plus an endoscopy procedure room. 

Bass Coast Health is proud to be presenting the community with an exclusive look inside the three-storey building on the site of the current Wonthaggi Hospital. 

The Community Open Day will include tours every half hour, a mega Auxiliary Fete, a sausage sizzle and coffee van, and a Smoking Ceremony (Welcome to Country) at 10am. 

Online tours booked out. Limited places available on the day. For more information, go to: www.basscoasthealth.org.au/openday

Bigger hospital will transform the delivery of healthcare 

The WHE has been designed to service the healthcare needs of the Bass Coast now and for years to come. 

The monumental, $115m expanded hospital is the first of three stages to expand and upgrade the current Wonthaggi Hospital facilities, with Stage 1 featuring a built-for-purpose Emergency

Department, three operating theatres and a new surgical ward. 

“The opening of the WHE is a huge plus for the Wonthaggi and broader community of Bass Coast and South Gippsland, “BCH CEO Jan Child said. 

“Our region has been growing and will continue to grow. BCH has been growing its services to deliver on its role as a sub-regional health service, with the key aim to care for more people closer to home.

“The WHE is built-for-purpose, is equipped with the latest technology and is impressive. It’s a spectacular facility for our community. 

“The WHE will not only entice more healthcare workers to join our excellent team at Bass Coast Health, but will also give more people the confidence to relocate to our region, knowing they have a contemporary health service to care for them when they need it.” 

General entry to all services within the WHE and existing Wonthaggi Hospital will soon be via a new main reception on the ground level of the WHE. 

There are links and lifts to take people to the old hospital, including Pathology. 

The Emergency Department (ED) is located on the ground level and includes general cubicles, resuscitation cubicles, a behavioural assessment room (for people who may be agitated, have a mental illness or are affected by alcohol or similar), a plaster room and a procedure room. 

Longer-term the fast-track area will be opened up to enable patients with less complex conditions to be seen in a timelier fashion. 

In the short term, these patients will be seen in the expanded ED precinct. 

The nurses’ station in ED is centrally located to enable nurses to easily monitor patients and there is a negative pressure room for the treatment of COVID and other respiratory conditions. This room is designed to keep infectious particles within the room, for the safety of other patients and staff. 

Our larger patients will be catered for by a designated bariatric cubicle with a gantry for lifting people weighing 200kg. 

There are four high acuity cubicles for very ill patients. A purpose-built ambulance bay at the rear of the hospital will have capacity for five ambulances, with direct access from Baillieu Street West.

Children will be treated in a designated paediatric cubicle and there will be 2 isolation cubicles for those with infectious conditions, such as COVID. 

The ED is designed so that if COVID or similar infectious diseases are present, staff can isolate that area by changing air conditioning flows and closing doors with the touch of a button. 

The ED complex has a Short Stay Unit where patients can stay for longer periods when monitoring is required.

Surgical services dominate level one. 

There are three large operating theatres, including a fully interactive operating theatre with digital audio-visual equipment. 

This live-streaming capacity will enable surgery (primarily orthopaedic) being undertaken at Wonthaggi to be recorded and beamed to metropolitan hospitals for advice and teaching purposes. There is also a smaller theatre for Procedures and Endoscopies. 

The theatres are equipped with state-of-the-art equipment and technology, enabling the completion of a range of theatre specialities including general, gynaecology, orthopaedic, ophthalmology, endoscopy, urology and breast surgery, with expansion of surgery either well underway (orthopaedics) or on the horizon (paediatric). 

There are many recovery bays and a large sterilising department, where our surgical equipment will be cleaned and sterilised. The peri-operative department has dedicated education space, spacious change-rooms and an abundance of natural light. 

The new Acute Ward on the top level has so many features: 

• 3 high acuity beds for close observation 

• A bariatric room 

• An isolation room 

• Paediatric beds for the future once Paediatric inpatient care commences (2023) 

• 16 single rooms and 16 double rooms. 

Patients and their families will also have a lounge area with views across Wonthaggi.

Hospital pays tribute to coal mining foundations

Wonthaggi’s coal mining heritage has been honoured in the front foyer of the new Wonthaggi Hospital building. 

A piece of black coal sourced from Wonthaggi’s State Coal Mine 22 years ago by former miner Luciano Storti, has been inserted into a glass box within the desk at the new main reception. 

The coal was delivered to BCH by Board Chair Don Paproth and painstakingly cut to size to fit the box by BCH facilities officer Ken Reid. 

Don was a student when he heard the original mine whistle blow for the last time and recalls with pride how Wonthaggi defied predictions the town would die after the mine closed, only to expand and become the thriving rural centre that it is today. 

The $115 million Wonthaggi Hospital Expansion reflects the substantial growth of the town, and gives further confidence in the town’s future, especially with further hospital expansion on the way.

“Bass Coast Health has more than 1200 employees and it’s the largest employer in our catchment,” Don said.