The $200 million Joan Kirner Women’s and Children’s Hospital, on the Sunshine Hospital site, opened in May 2019 to meet the demand for world-class maternity and paediatric services in Melbourne’s west.
Named after Victoria’s first female premier, the new hospital allows more women to give birth locally. It gives families better access to vital children’s services – closer to home.
The hospital has nine floors and during construction, enough concrete was used to fill nearly four Olympic size swimming pools. It has 20 maternity delivery rooms, 237 beds, 39 special care nursery cots, four theatres and additional clinics.
The hospital also has the western suburbs’ first ever neonatal intensive care unit to care for the most critically ill babies.