Two new emergency departments part of $900m Westmead Hospital upgrade

A new fly-through video shows how Westmead Hospital could look in three years’ time, after a $900 million transformation and the addition of two new emergency departments.

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Westmead Hospital’s new main hospital building, part of the state’s biggest and most costly health development project, is under way at Westmead and set to open in three years’ time.

The new building will bring the main hospital and the Children’s Hospital together, making it easier for staff and patients to move across the health precinct and to access cutting-edge medical procedures.

Multiplex Constructions will build the new main hospital building as part of the $900 million Westmead redevelopment plan.

An artist’s impression of new main entrance at Westmead Hospital.

The new building will include two new emergency departments, one for adults and one for children, along with state-of-the-art operating theatres, inpatient beds and clinical support services.

“Building a new hospital building at Westmead, in the centre of two of the busiest hospitals in NSW and alongside world-class research institutes, has many technical difficulties,” Western Sydney Local Health District chief executive Danny O’Connor said.

“Multiplex will be working closely with our patients, carers and community and with our students, clinicians and researchers in finalising the design and bringing innovations to construction of the new hospital building.”

An aerial photo of the site of the new Westmead hospital building to open in 2020.

The Children’s Hospital at Westmead chief executive Dr Michael Brydon said emergency services in the new hospital building would rival the best in the world.

“With both adult and paediatric emergency departments accessing cutting-edge theatres, medical imaging and diagnostics, families from western Sydney and across the state will receive the very best care when they need it the most,” he said.

Constructors Multiplex will also build a learning centre at the Westmead precinct to bring together service providers including Jobactive, Disability Services, Transition to Work, VTEC and Aboriginal support agencies.

Parramatta state Liberal MP Geoff Lee said the new building would offer a patient-centred environment for care in a modern, state-of-the-art facility.

The building will help connect Westmead Hospital and The Children’s Hospital at Westmead.

“This new building will be comfortable and welcoming to the hundreds of patients who visit our busy Westmead hospitals annually,” he said.

“Patients and their families have been heavily involved in designing the building to ensure the space reflects the needs of the community now and in the future.

“Multiplex Constructions Pty Ltd has been engaged under an early contractor involvement arrangement to continue these efforts and will work with Westmead clinicians, patients, families and community members to finalise the design for this exciting redevelopment.”

Other important elements of the Westmead redevelopment include a new multi-storey car park, which will open later this year, infrastructure upgrades to be completed in the coming months and a staged refurbishment program for Westmead Hospital, which kicked off in 2014 and is due for completion in 2021.

Patients and their families have been heavily involved in designing the building.