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After more than 160 years at Lucan Street, Bendigo Health has moved into regional Victoria’s largest ever hospital project.
The first patient was admitted to the new Bendigo Hospital, at Mercy Street, about 8.15am on Tuesday.
About 170 patients were transferred during the six hours that followed.
Hospital staff celebrated the safe arrival of all inpatients shortly before 2.30pm.
In a written statement, Bendigo Health said patients were settling into their rooms and being visited by their families and loved ones.
"The months of planning paid off,” chief executive officer John Mulder said.
“Today went smoothly and according to plan. Patients and staff are thrilled with the new facility.
“I am very grateful to everyone who played a role in the day and extend my thanks to our community, who have been such strong supporters of this project from the beginning.”
He said Bendigo Health was still in the “very early stages” of the transition and staff were focused on ensuring everything ran smoothly during the weeks to come.
Today was likely to be another big day, Mr Mulder said, as the hospital welcomes patients to oncology, clinics and elective surgery.
It will also be the first day the hospital is open to the public.
The second stage of the $630 million Bendigo Hospital Project will start within weeks, with the decommissioning of old buildings and demolition of Stanistreet House and the Kurmala building.
Plans include a multi-storey car park, helipad and two-storey air bridge over Arnold Street.
The project was signed off by the state government of 2010 and has been designed to meet the demands of a growing community for decades to come.
“With its doors now open, families, doctors and nurses across Bendigo and the region now have a landmark, modern hospital they can truly be proud of,” Member for Bendigo West Maree Edwards said.
The hospital includes 372 inpatient beds, 72 same-day beds, 11 operating theatres, an integrated cancer centre, a maternity unit and a mental health unit.
Member for Bendigo East Jacinta Allan said it would change lives and ensure people in Bendigo and beyond could access the very best care when they needed it, closer to home.
Minister for Health Jill Hennessy thanked all those involved for making the “seamless move a success.”
“Today’s historic and complex move is a massive effort that involved many months of meticulous planning to ensure patient safety, comfort and care,” she said.
New hospital a community achievement
A new hospital had been on Bendigo Health’s wishlist since the ’90s, a former board chairman said.
Dr Michael Langdon remembers the idea being raised in 1997, when the then Bendigo Base Hospital board was seeking the amalgamation of the hospital, the Anne Caudle Centre and the regional psychiatric services.
The board advised the state government the hospital was not big enough, nor modern enough, to serve the needs of a growing community.
“At the time, the government said they couldn’t afford to do that,” Dr Langdon said.
The state government provided $42 million for the amalgamation of services into a health care group.
“We then fought to get radiotherapy into Bendigo,” Dr Langdon said.
Again, the state government provided funds. But it was the community that raised the $1 million needed to provide accommodation for patients coming to Bendigo from elsewhere for treatment.
One of the next major milestones was a rally in 2010, when members of the medical community came together to demonstrate support for a new hospital to be built on one site.
Dr Langdon said the government of the time had proposed the hospital be split over two sites.
“What a fantastic day it is for Bendigo and its community to see this new hospital come to fruition,” he said.
“This really is the result of a lot of hard work by so many members of our community.”
Though it might be named the new Bendigo Hospital, Dr Langdon said it was important to recognise the benefits for the entire region.
“A lot of planning has gone in, behind the scenes, to ensure it doesn’t subsume all the other hospitals in the region,” he said.
Bendigo Health CEO John Mulder said the plan for the hospital’s construction when he arrived was a five stage build, over about 14 years.
The emergency department would have been the final stage to open, in 2023.
“It was pretty obvious to all involved at the time that was not going to do the job for the Bendigo community,” Mr Mulder said.
From there, a “vision to create what we saw as regional Australia’s first world-class hospital” was formed.
“It was a very ambitious plan,” Mr Mulder said.
The hospital was inspired by the best hospitals in the world, and would require a substantial budget.
At the time, Mr Mulder said the state government had not invested more than $150-odd million in a hospital development outside of Melbourne.
He said it was with the support of a range of people within the community that the new Bendigo Hospital had progressed from a vision to a reality.
With the first stage of the $630 million project complete, Bendigo Health will shortly be embarking on phase two.
“I don’t think the community quite as yet appreciated the size of the structure yet to be built,” Mr Mulder said.
Special treatment for youngest patients
Some of Bendigo Health’s youngest patients were among the more than 170 people transferred to the new hospital on Tuesday.
Mobile Intensive Care Ambulance paramedics helped hospital staff ensure babies were safely moved to the Special Care Nursery.
Tara Brown and her infant daughter Jordana were among those getting acquainted with the nursery in the afternoon.
"I am happy and relaxed my baby is in a beautiful and safe place,” Tara said.
While showing the Bendigo Advertiser around the hospital the day prior, Bendigo Health chief executive officer John Mulder said the new nursery was “very special.”
“What you can see here is a much larger facility,” he said.
There are four units within the nursery where a parent can stay overnight with the baby, and isolation units.
The maternity unit contains 25 single rooms and seven birthing suites.
Victorian Minister for Health Jill Hennessy visited the Special Care Nursery to mark the milestone that was the patient transfer to the new hospital.
Keep an eye on the Bendigo Advertiser website tomorrow for more hospital coverage