UnitingCare Health has developed Australia’s first fully-integrated digital regional hospital in Hervey Bay on Queensland’s Fraser Coast.
UnitingCare Health has opened Australia’s first fully-integrated regional digital hospital in Hervey Bay on Queensland’s Fraser Coast. The state-of-the-art ‘hospital of the future’ was supported by the Federal Government’s Health and Hospitals Fund, which provided $47 million towards the estimated $87.5 million construction and eHealth costs. The St Stephen’s Hervey Bay digital hospital opened in October 2014, and has shown patients and clinicians how technology can transform the healthcare experience.
Facilities and services
Stage one of the St Stephen’s Hospital in Hervey Bay includes 96 inpatient beds with 6 day oncology chairs. This will be expanded to 132 inpatient beds, with an additional 180 beds in stage two. The hospital provides vital medical and surgical services and an unparalleled model of patient care, bringing a wide range of benefits to the region.
The following clinical services will be provided at the new digital hospital:
- Ophthalmology
- Low risk surgical Paediatric services
- Urology
- Endoscopy
- Oncology
- Renal Dialysis
- General Medical
- Coronary Care
- Sleep Laboratory services
- Respiratory medicine
- More complex general surgery to higher acuity patients with higher co-morbidities
- Gynaecology
- Colorectal surgery and
- Orthopaedics.
The facility will also include a number of other new features, for example:
- High Dependency Unit on each of the three floors
- Five theatres
- Two nurse stations on each of the three levels
- A bariatric room on each level
- Private patient rooms
- 6 renal dialysis chairs and 6 day oncology chairs.
For more information, see the Frequently asked questions about this venture.