Hospital based care 23 April 2024

Bigger and better eye and ear hospital now complete

The $317.8 million redevelopment of the Royal Victorian Eye and Ear Hospital is complete.

The multi-million-dollar redevelopment has delivered a world-class specialist health, research and education facility.

The Victorian and Federal government invested $317.8 million to redevelop the eight-storey facility. It includes a mix of new-build construction as well as refurbishment of existing facilities.

Life-saving facilities for Victorians

The project added:

a new 13-cubicle emergency department
eight operating theatres
14 recovery spaces
a further 37 same-day beds
42 consulting rooms.

The hospital now has improved teaching, training and research facilities consolidated on the upper levels.

Patient services have been combined on the lower three levels for ease of navigation.

Behind the scenes, the redevelopment included installing a new central sterile services department (CSSD) and a full upgrade of the hospital’s engineering infrastructure and central plant.

These major improvements have been achieved while the hospital continued its world-leading and life-saving work for Victorian families.

Benefits to the community

Updating the hospital means it can meet future growth in demand without compromising standards of patient care.

The project will ensure patients can access the care and treatment they need more quickly. They will be able to spend less time in hospital and enjoy better long-term prognosis as a result.

In turn, these benefits will flow through to the wider community. Patients will be able to return home and get back to work more quickly.

About the Royal Victorian Eye and Ear Hospital

The Royal Victorian Eye and Ear Hospital was established in 1863. It is the largest public provider of specialist eye and ear, nose and throat services in Victoria, and sees more than 192,000 episodes of care each year. This includes more than 58,472 emergency attendances.

It is a leading eye and ear, nose and throat (ENT) hospital and a foremost teaching hospital and research centre.

Learn more about the Royal Victorian Eye and Ear Hospital.

The Royal Victorian Eye and Ear Hospital is complete

Accessible transcript

[Images: Early morning opening scene of the construction manager’s two storey gantries on Morrison Place, East Melbourne. A concrete mixer sits ready for work.]

[Text on screen: The Royal Victorian Eye and Ear Hospital redevelopment is taking shape.]

[Images: Close ups of the following: concrete mixer chute delivering concrete, the metal formwork over the concrete slab to be poured, and the cab of crane way up high.]

[Text on screen: It will include a new seven storey infill building and upgrade of existing facilities]

[Images: A wide view of the floor slab with around a dozen workers in high vis clothing positioning the concrete pump hose, which is hovering over the formwork, followed by close up vision of a worker manipulating the hose as it spews concrete.]

[Text on screen: Once completed, there will be eight new operating rooms, 14 recovery spaces and 24 overnight stay inpatient beds.]

[Images: A close up of the pump spewing concrete morphs into drone footage of the construction scene from above. Another close up of a worker using a concrete leveller follows.]

[Text on screen: The redevelopment will place the hospital as one of Australia’s leading integrated research and clinical facilities.]

[Images: Two construction workers are using concrete power trowels to level and smooth the surface of the slab. The last image is another drone shot of the infill building slab seen from above.]

[Images: The screen closing slide is the Victorian Health and Human Services Building Authority logo, the web address vhhsba.vic.gov.au and the Victoria State Government logo.]

End of transcript.