Wyvern Private Hospital: $100m, 85-bed facility opens doors in Terrey Hills
A new $100m, 85-bed “acute care” private hospital on the northern beaches is now open. See what it means for your healthcare.
Manly
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A $100m private surgical and rehabilitation hospital has opened its doors on the northern beaches.
Wyvern Private Hospital, which began construction at Terrey Hills in March 2022, will admit its first patients later this month.
Former emergency department doctor and general practitioner Sophie Scamps, now the federal “teal” MP for Mackellar, officially opened the hospital at a ribbon-cutting ceremony on Friday.
Designed to complement its bushland setting in Myoora Rd, the hospital will have 85 beds but won’t be at full patient capacity until some time next year.
The founder and chairman of Wyvern Health, neurosurgeon Bill Sears, described the opening as a “monumental day for Sydney healthcare”.
“More residents on the northern beaches are now able to access private surgical and rehabilitation services closer to home and experience what is perhaps the state’s most natural and tranquil clinical setting,” he said.
Dr Sears told this masthead last year it was critical that people in northern Sydney, many of whom were ageing, had access to what he described as world-class private medical and surgical facilities and healthcare services.
The hospital site, owned by Australian Unity, was given planning permission eight years ago.
In February 2022, Wyvern Health signed a 30-year lease and major works agreement with Australian Unity’s Healthcare Property Trust to develop and operate the facility, which features three main buildings built in a bushland setting.
Wyvern has fenced off 35 per cent of the site — including a coastal upland swamp — to be protected as a natural “stewardship” site in “perpetuity”.
It has also installed 39 next boxes for local wildlife and is planting 250 banksias.
Hospital chief executive Carol Bryant said it would have a “quieter period over Christmas”.
“Then we’ll look to really grow when we reopen in January,” she said.
While the hospital is still looking to recruit more nurses and administrative personnel, it has enough staff ready for the first patients.
“We will, as we grow, need to recruit more people,” Ms Bryant said.
There will eventually be about 150 staff, including about 22 doctors and 69 nurses.
When fully operational, the hospital will have a range of medical and surgical services including eight operating theatres, a cardiac catherterisation lab, 56 surgical inpatient beds, 20 rehabilitation beds and nine beds in its intensive care unit.
It will also have “clinical support units”, including radiology — equipped with CT, MRI, X-ray and ultrasound imaging — pathology, a pharmacy, a 148-space car park and 15 consulting suites.
A hydrotherapy pool and gym for physiotherapy and rehabilitation have been fitted out along with a cafe.
The buildings feature floor to ceiling windows with bushland views, while a rooftop garden has been created to help reduce patient stress.
Wyvern describes it as an “acute care” hospital that will focus on spinal surgery, neurosurgery, orthopaedic surgery, vascular surgery, interventional cardiology, pain management and ophthalmology.
Ms Bryant said the hospital would cater to the northern beaches’ ageing population, with orthopaedics and spinal neurosurgery “being our main activity”.
“We’ve got a large group of doctors already wanting to work here in those areas,” she said.
“And we’ll have general and plastic surgery as well as a pain management team.
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