New site chosen for WA Women and Babies Hospital

The Western Australian government has abandoned plans to build a $1.8 billion maternity hospital at the Queen Elizabeth II Medical Centre site in Nedlands. Instead, the hospital will be built at the Fiona Stanley Hospital precinct in Murdoch.

The project was first initiated in December 2020, and concept designs by Hassell were released in February 2021. The QEII Medical Centre site, which is co-located with Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital and Perth Children's Hospital, was chosen in January 2022.

However, a business case and project definition plan found that the site posed too many risks. In a statement, the WA government said, "Building the hospital at the QEII site would have caused significant disruption to the neighbouring Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital, which would have resulted in patients and staff being impacted, higher build costs, and the hospital opening much later than planned due to the complex nature of the build."

"It would have been irresponsible to proceed with a new hospital at QEII given the unacceptable disruption to patients and staff that has been identified through the planning process," said WA premier Mark McGowan.

Health minister Amber-Jade Sanderson added, "A key consideration of the co-location of the Women's and Babies Hospital with a tertiary hospital is to ensure that our sickest women have access to a state-of-the-art ICU. This makes FSH the obvious choice."

The new Women and Babies Hospital will offer an expanded range of services and increase the number of beds for obstetrics and gynaecology, including neonatal cots. It will be located close to a medihotel and the Murdoch railway station.

Site works are expected to begin in 2024.