Spoken by Professor Russell Harrison—Chief Executive Officer, Western Health

Welcome to Footscray Hospital, located on the lands of the Wurundjeri Woiwurrung people of the Greater Kulin Nation. Western Health acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of the lands and the waterways on which we come together and pay our deep respects to the elders and traditional custodians past, present and emerging. We are committed to the healing of Country, equity in health outcomes and the ongoing journey of reconciliation.

Footscray Hospital has been ‘the People’s Hospital’ since right back in 1953 after locals came together to raise money and build what is now known as our original Footscray Hospital. Today, we’re proud to continue serving the community in the People’s Hospital, a purpose-built hospital to provide the best care dedicated to education and research, advanced technology and equipment, light-filled spaces, and it’s designed to support health and well-being for our community.

Our hospital has been designed with sustainability in mind. The site has more than 1,500 rooftop solar panels, an incredible 55,000 plants, and a rainwater collection system that will reuse up to 90% of rain that falls on our roof.

The hospital includes a vast array of state-of-the-art technology that will transform radiology services in Melbourne’s West with a range of different and faster scanners and diagnostics available for our patients

We have new equipment. We have new diagnostic machinery. We have more equipment. We can see more patients. We can get people better and faster diagnoses. We can treat more people. In terms of the size of the new hospital, as I say, it’s 180,000 square metres, which is ginormous. So we have 200 more beds. The Emergency Department will allow us to see 20,000 more emergency patients per year. And the beds will mean we can cater for an extra 15,000 admissions.

And we’re also building for the future with future stages already pre-built that we can adapt and put in more beds over time. So we’re really building for the now, we’re building for the immediate future and we’re building for that sort of medium-term future with more things built in.

My favourite part of seeing staff come to the hospital for the first time, and it’s absolutely universal, is as soon as they walk in and see Hospital Street, their jaw drops and they just mouth the words, ‘wow’. And anyone that’s looking at Hospital Street will kind of get the same reaction, I’m sure, because it just looks incredible. So I think it’s fabulous to see that visceral reaction of them just going, ‘wow’ and looking towards the roof.

I think for the community it’s a continuation of the legacy of service to the Inner West that Footscray Hospital has brought. The old hospital is called the People’s Hospital. And that’s because the local community raised funds to buy the land and start that process. And I think we’re really keen that we honour that legacy. But it’s incredible that we’ve got a really modern, purpose-built, technology-enabled hospital that will really give us the opportunity to provide the best care to our population. And not just now, but for years to come.

In terms of the People’s Hospital, it’s really important as the CEO, I want to make sure we continue to honour that legacy. My aim and that of all of the staff is to bring all of that passion, all of that history, all of that legacy, in the old building to the new, and not lose sight of those roots. We are here to provide care to our community and that’s really important and that’s what we want to do.

Changing the future of healthcare in Melbourne’s West is a pretty big ask, but I think we’ve now got world-class facilities to match the world-class staff and care that we provide. I think that, in combination, will really help drive forward change. I think, in terms of my favorite place in the building, it’s really hard because it’s kind of filled with all sorts of incredible big spaces and small nooks and crannies.

But one is downstairs in the corridor leading from the reception area down to the ED. So you can see some of the journey of the development of the site, some of the key leaders from Western Health in the past, and then the great faces of Footscray.

So I think that, for me, is a really great place to anchor, the old legacy and Footscray and who we’re serving for staff and people walking past— so it builds a bit of a thrill to me to see that. And then just looking out onto the village green with that planting and the greenery is just phenomenal. And it’s very, very different to what we have at the current Footscray Hospital. And there’s not much grass. So I think just seeing the light, the space, those are my two favorite spots.