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The Emergency Department (ED) is one of the Hospital’s busiest and most complex environments. Dr Ainslie Senz highlights how the design balances patient comfort with clinical safety, starting with a calming waiting area.

The ED’s layout, integrated imaging and dedicated mental health spaces, all shaped through staff insight, support efficient care and adaptability into the future.

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Explore the new Footscray Hospital

The new Footscray Hospital Emergency Department (ED) is a modern, purpose-built facility designed to provide high-quality emergency care for our community, now and into the future.

Patients are assessed on arrival, with care prioritised according to medical urgency. Patients with the most serious or life-threatening conditions are treated first. As is current practice, most children who are not critically unwell will be redirected to nearby paediatric emergency departments.

Location: Footscray Hospital Emergency Department is located at 20 Geelong Road, Footscray
Access: The Emergency Department can be accessed from both 20 Geelong Road and 89 Ballarat Road
Opening hours: Open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week

State-of-the-art

The new Emergency Department has been designed to significantly increase capacity and improve patient care, allowing us to treat around 20,000 additional patients each year.

Key features include:

  • Significantly larger department and increased capacity
  • Innovative ‘pod’-based design, with each pod having access to:
    • Medication rooms
    • Storerooms
    • Staff workstations
  • Efficient layout based on clinical relationships, including:
    • Direct access from ambulance entry to resuscitation areas
    • Easy access between the waiting room and critical care areas
  • Optimised corridors and travel pathways to improve the movement of patients, staff and equipment

  • Dedicated Mental Health, Alcohol and Other Drugs Hub, providing a specialised and supportive environment for patients
  • Co-located Satellite Imaging Department for faster access to diagnostics, including:
    • Two general X-ray rooms
    • One CT scanner
    • One ultrasound room
  • Future-ready infection control design, including advanced air handling and ventilation systems that allow areas of the ED to be isolated during pandemics or infectious disease outbreaks
  • Carers Hub, offering a private and supportive space for families and carers of critically unwell patients

Patient move day

To support the safe transfer of patients to the new hospital on 18 February 2026, we ask that members of the public do not visit either the original or the new Footscray Hospital on this day, unless emergency care is required. Arrangements are in place to support immediate family members of patients who are being transferred on the day.

What you need to know
At 8 am on 18 February 2026, the original Footscray Hospital Emergency Department will close to new patients.

From 8 am, anyone requiring emergency care should go directly to the new Footscray Hospital Emergency Department at 20 Geelong Road.

You can access the Emergency Department from both 89 Ballarat Road, Footscray and 20 Geelong Road, Footscray. A vehicle drop-off zone is clearly signed in front of the Emergency Department entrance.