Media Release

New RMH Emergency Department takes shape

31 March 2008

The Royal Melbourne Hospital is one of the busiest hospitals in Australia. To ensure it is able to respond to growing demand, the RMH Emergency Department is undergoing a massive $56 million redevelopment that will be completed at the end of 2009.

The current Emergency Department opened in 1994 and was designed to treat 35,000 patients a year. Over the past year, the department saw more than 50,000 patients and by 2015, is expected to treat more than 64,000 patients annually.

The redevelopment will double the floor space of the Emergency Department. It will include:

	22 more cubicles. The cubicles will be larger and are designed to enhance clinical care and patient privacy.
	A computer at every bedside. This will allow bedside registration of patients and give staff easy access to pathology and radiology results. Staff won’t need to go to the central workstation allowing closer supervision of patients. Patients and families will also be able to view health education.
	Six resuscitation and two trauma bays will be located for rapid access by patients arriving by road and air ambulances. The two trauma bays will have built-in x-ray machines.
	A new front entrance and waiting area. The waiting area will be more comfortable and it will include a children’s area. Large display screens will inform people how the Emergency Department works and introduce them to the services provided at the hospital. Health messages will also be displayed.
	Two triage nurse stations located alongside clerical staff. This triage team assess, prioritise and register patients on arrival. A new streamlined process will help reduce patient queuing.
	Three dedicated isolation rooms, with negative air-pressure, will provide a safe environment to care for patients with possible infectious conditions.
	Four new rooms will provide quiet and supportive care for patients with behavioural disturbances.
	Flexible-use assessment beds for stays of up to 48 hours. The ward-based environment will incorporate chest pain evaluation beds and patients will have access to an outdoor courtyard during their stay.

Other initiatives will also improve patients’ stays in ED. The patient cubicles have been designed to ensure that patient medications can be safely secured with the patient, reducing the need to carry medications back and forth. The delivery of medical records in trolleys will be minimised with the introduction of a document air shute. Records will be quickly delivered directly to the ED, helping to provide treatment in a shorter time frame. Staff will have access to purpose built education and training facilities.

This large-scale project has been coordinated to enable the Emergency Department to continue providing services with minimal disruption. From mid-2008 to late-2009, the Emergency Department will be temporarily moved to a space adjoining its current location. Patients will still be able to enter from Grattan St. The new Emergency Department will be completed in late 2009. Shortly after, the assessment planning beds and Transit Lounge will move from Level 6 to the new purpose-built facilities on the ground floor. These co-located facilities will help create a logical patient flow for those entering and leaving the hospital. On completion, the RMH Emergency Department will be among the largest in Australia.

Pictured in the current trauma bays are ED redevelopment
planners Geoffrey Devine,– Nurse Unit Manager,
Medical Assessment Planning Unit, Keith Joe, Emergency
Physician, Elizabeth Virtue, Manager Emergency Services.
and Gail McInnes, Emergency Department Clinical Coordinator.

Media contact: Irene Salkunas 0419 339 064