Wagga Wagga Base Hospital, briefly named Wagga Wagga Rural Referral Hospital, is located in the City of

Wagga Wagga Wagga Wagga (; informally called Wagga) is a major regional city in the Riverina region of New South Wales, Australia. Straddling the Murrumbidgee River, with an urban population of more than 56,000 as of June 2018, Wagga Wagga is the state's la ...

, the largest inland city of

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

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 ...

. The hospital is the largest in the region, providing medical services to the wider

Riverina The Riverina is an agricultural region of south-western New South Wales, Australia. The Riverina is distinguished from other Australian regions by the combination of flat plains, warm to hot climate and an ample supply of water for irrigation ...

. It is the regional referral hospital for outlying areas, and provides medical, surgical, orthopaedic, psychiatric and paediatric inpatient services in addition to emergency care. The hospital also provides a range of allied health services including pharmacy, physiotherapy, social work, dietetics and speech pathology. Wagga Wagga also is home to a private hospital, Calvary Hospital, which is also important for the region and also mental health unit.

History

The hospital was founded as Wagga Wagga District Hospital in 1865 and a number of its early buildings were designed by

William Monks William John Monks, also known as Bill or Billy, (1869 – 2 July 1943) was an Australian architect active in the last decade of the 19th century and first third of the 20th century. Monks "had one of the most successful and extensive archite ...

, a local architect. in 1938 it became known as Wagga Wagga Base Hospital.

Redevelopment

On 30 November 2007 the

Greater Southern Area Health Service Greater Southern Area Health Service, abbreviated GSAHS, was formed in January 2005 from the amalgamation of the former Greater Murray Area Health Service and Southern Area Health Service. It is a statutory body of the Government of New South W ...

publicly released the concept plans of the new base hospital which will be located on the current hospital site and cost an estimated $275 million which will have a total of 460 beds. Stage one of the redevelopment was a 50 bed mental health unit with construction beginning in March 2012 and completed in October 2013. Stage two, the construction of the acute hospital building, commenced in December 2013 and was completed in December 2015, with patients moved into the new hospital in January 2016. As part of the redevelopment, the hospital was renamed as Wagga Wagga Rural Referral Hospital.

References

External links

* * {{Coord, 35, 7, 6, S, 147, 21, 28, E, display=title Hospitals in New South Wales Wagga Wagga Hospitals established in 1865 1865 establishments in Australia