It has been a remarkably smooth transition for St John of God Midland Public Hospital, which opened its doors on 24 November last year, with the promise of providing an increased range of health care to an area that hasn’t seen a new hospital for half a century.
Delivered on time and on budget, the $360-million facility is the first public hospital entrusted to the St John of God Health Care (SJGHC) group in Western Australia.
Speaking after the successful opening, SJGHC Group Chief Executive Officer Dr Michael Stanford opened up about what WA’s newest public hospital means for the state.
He said the 307-bed facility would improve on previous services in the area by reaching more people and targeting identified community needs.
It will deliver higher acuity and complex clinical services in more areas than previously available at Swan District Hospital, such as intensive care, coronary care and cancer care.
The hospital also provides expanded services in emergency, paediatrics, aged care and rehabilitation, surgery, medicine and mental health.
“The question should not be about whether health care should be delivered by the public or private sector but who is able to best deliver the service where and when it is needed,” Dr Stanford said.
“Just as the pioneering Sisters of St John of God worked with the state in 1895 to respond to a societal need when the gold rush brought on typhoid outbreaks, we continue their mission to deliver compassionate care where it is needed.”
The public hospital is co-located with a 60-bed private hospital and will service the rural Mid-West, as well as its metropolitan catchment area.
Dr Stanford said that, in putting forward SJGHC’s bid to operate the hospital, consideration was given to the group’s longstanding organisational priority to help close the gap in Aboriginal health in Australia.
“The increased service offered at Midland, in a community with a significant Indigenous population, will support this priority and we’ve also committed to employ and train more Indigenous Australians at all our hospitals,” he said.
Working in a more integrated system of care like that provided by the public sector would have spin-off benefits for the way SJGHC’s private hospitals engage with their communities and public hospital colleagues, Dr Stanford added.
“A greater public health profile will increase our capacity as a provider of medical education, which will assist in our long-term goal in Western Australia of becoming a primary allocation centre in our own right,” he said.
“Ultimately, we want to be more aware and sophisticated in working with government so that, when opportunities for partnership present, we are able to help shoulder the responsibility to deliver quality health outcomes when and where they are needed.”
The new hospital was blessed by Perth Archbishop Timothy Costelloe at the official opening ceremony last year, where he was joined by other Western Australia religious leaders, including Chief Rabbi of WA Dovid Freilich, Baptist Church of WA’s Reverend Philip Bryant, Imam of Islamic Council of WA Sheikh Hisham, Sikh Temple’s Head Priest Jasvinder Singh, Anglican Parish of Midland Church Warden Lynne Oliver and Buddha Light International’s Venerable Miaoxi Shih.
Archbishop Costelloe said that, as a facility operated by a Catholic organisation, the hospital would be grounded in the mercy, compassion and respect for the worth and dignity of every human person – values we have learnt from the teaching and actions of Jesus.
“They are, of course, values which are at the heart of every religion, every faith, and are found in the heart of every person,” he said.
“It is my hope, my expectation and my prayer that everyone who engages with this hospital, whether as staff, as visitors or as patients, will experience a sense of being deeply honoured, valued and respected.”
Premier Colin Barnett and Federal Assistant Minister for Health Ken Wyatt also spoke at the event, reflecting the joint funding of the project by the State and Commonwealth governments.
The new St John of God Midland Public and Private Hospitals bring the health care group’s total number of facilities in Australia and New Zealand to 23, providing a total of more than 3,000 beds.
From page 12 and 13 from Issue 1: ‘The Year of Mercy: Seeking an Encounter with Christ’ of The Record Magazine