Footscray Hospital is a public

hospital A hospital is a healthcare institution providing patient treatment with specialized Medical Science, health science and auxiliary healthcare staff and medical equipment. The best-known type of hospital is the general hospital, which typically ...

located on Gordon Street in Footscray, an inner-western suburb of

Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

. It is one of three major hospitals operated by Western Health in the western suburbs of Melbourne.

History

Footscray Hospital was opened in 1953 as Footscray and District Hospital, with 213 beds and the first hospital in the state to be fully air-conditioned. The construction of the hospital came as a result of 32 years of lobbying by the community surrounding the area, with a successful fundraiser to purchase the site occurring in 1921. However, the Charities' Board refused permission to build the hospital three years later in 1924. In the same year, an Outpatients Clinic, Dispensary and Casualty Station was established. In 1941, the Charities' Board approved the construction of a 30-bed hospital but events of

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

meant construction would not began until later in 1947. In 1972, the hospital was renamed to Western General and a new Outpatients complex was constructed in 1976. In 1986, the hospital was amalgamated with

Sunshine Hospital Sunshine Hospital is a public hospital located on Furlong Road in St Albans, a suburb of Melbourne, Australia. It is one of three major hospitals operated by Western Health in the western suburbs of Melbourne. The hospital takes its name from t ...

to form the Maribyrnong Medical Centre. This name would later be renamed to Western Hospital in 1989. Throughout the 1990s, the hospital went through a period of expansion with new facilities such as a new emergency department and Community Drug and Alcohol Services unit. The hospital was renamed to Footscray Hospital in 2014.

Facilities

The hospital has approximately 290 beds. This includes an

emergency department An emergency department (ED), also known as an accident and emergency department (A&E), emergency room (ER), emergency ward (EW) or casualty department, is a medical treatment facility specializing in emergency medicine, the Acute (medicine), ...

, an intensive care unit, a cardiac care unit, general medicine, surgery, cancer services, adult specialist clinics (outpatients). Footscray Hospital is part of the Western Clinical School at the

Melbourne Medical School Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences is the largest faculty of University of Melbourne, with the most post-graduate students, and also hosts the most school departments and centres of all University of Melbourne Faculties, consisting ...

alongside

Performance

Footscray Hospital saw the admission of 8,159 patients from January until March 2018; 5,107 of which were in the emergency department and the remaining 3,487 were same-day patients.

Future

Footscray Hospital has been described as 'run down' or 'past its use-by date' in local media and community. As a result, the Victorian state government announced in its 2017 budget that a new Footscray Hospital will be constructed adjacent to

Victoria University, Melbourne Victoria University (VU or Vic Uni) is an Australian public university, public research university based in Melbourne, Victoria. It is a dual-sector university, providing courses in both higher education and technical and further education (TAFE) ...

which will see more modern facilities and reduce waiting times on the current network. Construction of the “New Footscray Hospital” commenced in early 2021, led by global construction company

Multiplex Multiplex may refer to: Science and technology * Multiplex communication, combining many signals into one transmission circuit or channel ** Multiplex (television), a group of digital television or radio channels that are combined for broadcast * ...

. It is scheduled to open, replacing the existing hospital, in 2025.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Footscray Hospital Hospitals in Melbourne 1953 establishments in Australia Buildings and structures in the City of Maribyrnong Hospitals established in 1953