St Stephen's Private Hospital Official Opening
Monday, 08 December, 2014
Hervey Bay's St Stephen's Private Hospital, the first fully integrated digital hospital in Australia, is being officially opened today by Minister for Health the Honourable Peter Dutton MP.
The hospital's architects Conrad Gargett Riddel's managing director Mr Bruce Wolfe said while the hospital has only been accepting patients since mid October, so far going fully digital has saved money and time.
“Being able to integrate the digital technology throughout the design and then see it in action has been one of the biggest highlights of working on the project so far," Mr Wolfe said.
St Stephen's, which cost $96 million, in part funded by a federal government grant, is home to Australia's first full EMR and digital patient management system, in addition to a digital drug dispensing facility and a capacity to monitor patients during surgeries. Everything in the facility, from x-rays to equipment monitoring in theatres will be done electronically and operated by UnitingCare Health.
Stage one of the hospital includes 96 inpatient beds, with six renal dialysis chairs and six day oncology chairs. This will be expanded to 132 and then ultimately 180 inpatient beds in stage two.
“The hospital provides vital services and an unparalleled model of patient care. It will establish St Stephen’s Hervey Bay as the Australian benchmark in automated patient care," Mr Wolfe said.
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