A brand new $200 million development, incorporating a medihotel, is set to deliver a better experience for recuperating patients and free up hospital beds in WA so that more patients can be treated.
Medihotel Murdoch will be part of the first stage of the Murdoch Health and Knowledge Precinct development and is due for completion in 2022.
WA Health has partnered with Fini Group and Aegis Aged Care Group to deliver the project.
The Medihotel will deliver up to 60 beds and operate on a 24-hour, seven-day per week basis, and is expected to divert up to 5,000 patients each year from busy public hospital emergency departments.
The facility will provide medical and nursing support for patients who have been discharged from hospital but are not yet ready to return home.
Comprehensive primary health care services will also be located on-site including an urgent care clinic with minor trauma rooms and general practitioner services, such as pharmacy, imaging and pathology.
The development, to be located adjacent to two of WA’s biggest hospitals, Fiona Stanley Hospital and St John of God Murdoch, will also offer prevention and chronic disease management, rehabilitation and life skills training, to divert people from hospital and decrease hospital admissions.
Other facilities planned for the precinct include a transitional recovery unit for mental health patients requiring long-term rehabilitation and end of life care for patients who do not need specialist high-level hospice care.
Health Minister Roger Cook said this model of care and the collaboration between key health providers including GPs, allied health, aged care, mental health and other medical professionals has been developed by leading health experts and puts WA in a unique space.
Minister Cook expects that the medihotel, and the broader health precinct, will help set a new benchmark for the way sub-acute care is delivered Australia, by providing a greater range of services to match individual patient needs.
“It will divert hospital admissions from the public health system, freeing up tertiary hospital beds for those that need them most, and keep people out of hospital that don’t need to be there,” he stated.
“This is good news for patients who are discharged from hospital but are still recovering, and good news for the health system, ensuring hospital beds are available for those in more serious or critical conditions.”
Construction on the Murdoch development is expected to start later this year with practical completion anticipated in late 2022.