Hospital expansion plan mooted

MAJOR renovations and expansion could soon be on the cards for St John of God Healthcare Subiaco.

The hospital’s management has undertaken a review to plan for the hospital’s needs for the next 10 years and is in the middle of a feasibility study for the proposed expansion.

If approved – the proposal is yet to go before the hospital’s board – the works will involve a complete refurbishment of the hospital, excluding its new medical centre, and the creation of a major comprehensive cancer centre.

It is understood a multi-storey, 1,000-bay car park is also on the drawing board.

St John of God Healthcare Subiaco CEO Neale Fong confirmed the hospital was considering an expansion.

He said the cancer centre would be the largest of its kind in WA.

Dr Fong said the hospital was also studying the feasibility of rationalising all of its theatre and operating capacity into one facility.

Over the past few years the hospital has added a general practitioners’ clinic, created a paediatrics ward and a multi-million dollar medical centre, which includes operating theatres, pathology facilities and consulting rooms.

The medical centre wing also includes a convention centre complete with teleconferencing facilities.

Those facilities were used to beam an operation conducted in the hospital’s theatres live via satellite to London’s Royal College of Surgeons.

It is understood that there have been no formal applications from the hospital regarding expansion plans to the City of Cambridge, however there have been some discussions regarding the amalgamation of lots on its site.

Such lot amalgamations are often harbingers of major development works.

Dr Fong said St John of God Healthcare Subiaco was the largest and most comprehensive private hospital in WA.

“It is the busiest Catholic private hospital in Australia,” he said.