An additional 150 nurses and midwives for Joan Kirner Women's and Children's Hospital

The new Joan Kirner Women’s and Children’s Hospital will be home to an additional 150 nurses and midwives when it opens its doors to patients in May 2019.

Strengthened nurse and midwife to patient ratios are now in place after passing Parliament last month, delivering 600 new nurses and midwives in public hospitals. Because of these improved ratios, additional nurses and midwives are working in our hospitals, caring for patients.

Premier Daniel Andrews and Minister for Health Jenny Mikakos joined nurses and midwives to inspect the finishing touches on the $200 million hospital – including the hospital’s birthing suites, special care nursery and neonatal intensive care unit for the most critically sick babies.

The Joan Kirner Women’s and Children’s Hospital will ensure women and families in the west have access to specialist paediatric and maternity services closer to home.

The hospital will take pressure off the nearby Sunshine Hospital, which is forecast to deliver up to 7,000 births each year by 2026.

It will boast 20 maternity delivery rooms, 237 beds, 39 special care nursery cots, four theatres and additional clinics – and will become home to the first neonatal intensive care cots in the west.

Learn more via the Joan Kirner Women’s and Children’s Hospital project page.