12 April 2011

The not-for-profit organisation, founded and headquartered in Western Australia, has invested $325 million in expanding health care facilities over the past decade, with another $300 million, including
the Murdoch redevelopment, to be invested in Western Australia over the next five years.

The Murdoch expansion will increase the hospital from 357 to 522 beds, which combined with more treatment facilities will allow an additional 25,000 patients to be cared for each year.

St John of God Health Care’s Group Chief Executive Officer, Dr Michael Stanford, said: “As Western Australia’s largest private health provider, we are entirely focused on improving and expanding services to benefit the health of the community. This, our largest ever redevelopment, is a prime example of how we continually reinvest in our hospitals, facilities and communities.”

The Chief Executive Officer of St John of God Hospital Murdoch, Peter Mott, said the organisation’s founders, the Sisters of St John of God, showed great vision in choosing Murdoch as the hospital’s location over 20 years ago.

"From its origins as a 210-bed hospital in 1994, Murdoch has grown every few years to meet community need. The current redevelopment plan takes a long-term view to meeting anticipated growth in demand, with three stages of capacity growth over the next decade," said Mr Mott.

The redevelopment will add 165 beds, eight theatres, medical clinic, and comprehensive cancer centre by 2015, making a significant contribution to meeting the health care needs of Perth’s booming southern population corridor.

Mr Mott said: “In addition to benefiting patients, around 200 jobs will be created in stage one alone for clinical and support staff, providing a further boost to local and state economies.”

In conjunction with the adjacent Fiona Stanley Hospital, St John of God Health Care’s redevelopment firmly establishes Murdoch as the state’s largest, most modern and comprehensive health precinct, with 1,305 private and public hospital beds.

St John of God Health Care also operates the State’s only regional private hospitals, at Bunbury and Geraldton, as well as pathology, home nursing and Social Outreach services, which reach out
to people experiencing disadvantage by providing minimal or no cost health services.

Building will commence in early 2012, with new services coming online from 2013 through to 2015, coinciding with the opening of Fiona Stanley Hospital in 2014.