The Royal Women's Hospital, located in the
Melbourne
Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...
suburb of
Parkville, is
Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...
's oldest specialist women's hospital. It offers a full range of services in
maternity
]
A mother is the female parent of a child. A woman may be considered a mother by virtue of having given birth, by raising a child who may or may not be her biological offspring, or by supplying her ovum for fertilisation in the case of gesta ...
,
gynaecology
Gynaecology or gynecology (see spelling differences) is the area of medicine that involves the treatment of women's diseases, especially those of the reproductive organs. It is often paired with the field of obstetrics, forming the combined are ...
,
neonatal
An infant or baby is the very young offspring of human beings. ''Infant'' (from the Latin word ''infans'', meaning 'unable to speak' or 'speechless') is a formal or specialised synonym for the common term ''baby''. The terms may also be used to ...
care, women's cancers and
women's health
Women's health differs from that of men in many unique ways. Women's health is an example of population health, where health is defined by the World Health Organization as "a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not mer ...
. It also offers complementary services such as social work, physiotherapy, dietetics and pastoral care. Specialist clinics in endometriosis, chronic pelvic pain, menopause symptoms after cancer, infertility are also available. It is a major teaching hospital of over 200 beds with links to the
University of Melbourne
The University of Melbourne is a public research university located in Melbourne, Australia. Founded in 1853, it is Australia's second oldest university and the oldest in Victoria. Its main campus is located in Parkville, an inner suburb nor ...
and
La Trobe University
La Trobe University is a public research university based in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Its main campus is located in the suburb of Bundoora. The university was established in 1964, becoming the third university in the state of Victoria an ...
. Co-located in the same building is the
Frances Perry Private Hospital, a 69-bed private hospital for women.
History
The hospital was established at
Eastern Hill by doctors Richard Tracy and John Maund on 19 August 1856 as a place where under-privileged women could give birth with proper medical attention. The doctors were assisted by a group of women led by Mrs Frances Perry, the wife of the Bishop of Melbourne. The original title for the hospital was the ''Melbourne Lying-in Hospital and Infirmary for Diseases Peculiar to Women and Children''.
The Women's was the first specialist teaching hospital in the Antipodes, and the first hospital in Australia to train nurses and midwives and the first in Australia to hold postgraduate classes for nurses.
In 1858 it was relocated to a site in
Carlton
Carlton may refer to:
People
* Carlton (name), a list of those with the given name or surname
* Carlton (singer), English soul singer Carlton McCarthy
* Carlton, a pen name used by Joseph Caldwell (1773–1835), American educator, Presbyterian ...
, which spanned the block between Swanston and Cardigan Streets and Grattan and Faraday Streets. In March 1884, the hospital was renamed ''The Hospital for Women'', with the royal title being conferred on 6 September 1954.
In 2005, then Victorian Premier
Steve Bracks and Health Minister
Bronwyn Pike announced a major redevelopment and relocation of the Royal Women's Hospital and
Frances Perry Private Hospital next to the
Royal Melbourne Hospital
The Royal Melbourne Hospital (RMH), located in Parkville, Victoria, an inner suburb of Melbourne, is one of Australia's leading public hospitals. It is a major teaching hospital for tertiary health care with a reputation in clinical research. Th ...
on the corner of Grattan Street and Flemington Road in
Parkville. The new building and facilities, built by
Baulderstone
Baulderstone, formerly Baulderstone Hornibrook, was an Australian construction company.
History MR Hornibrook
In 1926, Manuel Hornibrook founded a construction company in Brisbane. Amongst its notable projects were the Story Bridge and William Jo ...
, were opened on 13 June 2008.
[Melbourne Healt]
Media Release
11 April 2005. Accessed April 28, 2007 The new building cost the Victorian Government $250 million, and has the capacity for more than 7,000 births per year.
References
{{Authority control
Hospitals established in 1856
Hospitals in Melbourne
Hospital buildings completed in 2008
Teaching hospitals in Australia
Women's Hospital, Melbourne Royal
1856 establishments in Australia
Buildings and structures in the City of Melbourne (LGA)