Welcome to the Footscray Hospital Community Open Day

You’re invited to explore Footscray’s new People’s Hospital before it opens to the public on Wednesday 18 February.

What you’ll need:

  • Your own phone and headphones
  • An event map—collect yours from the Open House Melbourne Info Hub

 

Explore the hospital in your own way, at your own pace. Stops can be experienced in any order. As you explore, remain aware of your surroundings and be considerate of people around you.

To listen to the audio guide in additional selected languages, click here.

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Western Health is thrilled to welcome you to the new Footscray Hospital. What you’ll see today is the culmination of countless hours of work by our dedicated staff and project partners. Together, with our partners, we have delivered a state-of-the-art, worldclass hospital that is positioned to provide the Best Care for the communities of Melbourne’s west.

The new Footscray Hospital is being delivered as a public-private partnership with Western Health and Plenary Health managing the hospital campus, in partnership with the Victorian Government.

Western Health CEO Russell Harrison introduces the project’s vision, and aspirations for how patients, staff and visitors will experience the Hospital.

Listen

Community-informed design

The new Footscray Hospital has been shaped by a deep connection to Melbourne’s western suburbs and direct engagement with the local community. During planning and procurement, workshops were held with Western Health staff, volunteers, and Plenary Health worked closely with a diverse community panel, ensuring local voices informed design decisions and precinct priorities.

This collaborative approach has created a landmark hospital and health precinct that reflects local needs for healthcare and urban renewal. Designed as the ‘People’s Hospital’, it includes welcoming green spaces for patients and staff and supports the continued growth and revitalisation of Footscray.

The 'People's Hospital'

Footscray Hospital has always been the ‘People’s Hospital’, a legacy Western Health proudly carry into their new home.

That legacy began in 1919, in the wake of the influenza epidemic, when communities in Melbourne’s west grew frustrated with inadequate local health services. With factories driving high rates of workplace injury, residents, trade unionists, business owners and councillors came together to form the “Hospital Movement”. Through community donations and contributions from local workers out of their meagre wages, they raised enough to purchase a site on Eleanor Street, where the Footscray Outpatients’ & Welfare Centre opened in 1938.

After 34 years of collective effort, advocacy and expansion, the Footscray and District Hospital officially opened in 1953, treating more than 35,000 outpatients and 3,700 inpatients in its first year alone.

For more information on Footscray Hospital’s history, visit The People’s Hospital- Tales from the surgeon’s table.

World-class healthcare facilities

The new Footscray Hospital continues this people-first tradition. Designed around community, care and connection, the hospital has been shaped through close collaboration with local residents, stakeholders, staff and patients, ensuring it truly serves the people who use it.

The hospital delivers comprehensive, modern healthcare services, including:

  • 200 more beds than the original Footscray Hospital (when operating at full capacity), enabling us to cater for an extra 15,000 admissions per year
  • A state-of-the-art Emergency Department that will allow us to treat 20,000 more patients a year
  • A dedicated mental health, alcohol and other drugs hub
  • Specialist clinical services and support spaces such as medical imaging, pharmacy and pathology services
  • For the first time, we’re introducing PET/CT:  three ultra-premium GE Revolution Apex Elite scanners. Each scanner provides spectral imaging, faster scan times, shorter breath holds, and one-beat cardiac imaging at any heart rate – helping us diagnose faster, with less stress for the patient.
  • Expanded MRI capacity, going from one to three world-class scanners, including two 3T GE SIGNA Heroes and a Siemens 1.5T Sola. This offers faster, clearer images, and a much more comfortable scan experience.

More than just a hospital

The hospital precinct has been designed to meet more than just the healthcare needs of Melbourne’s west, with retail and community spaces available to everyone. These include:

  • The central Village Green
  • At least eight cafés
  • Shops including a general store, pharmacy, gift shop and opportunity shop
    Community-focused facilities such as private medical clinics, an Aboriginal health unit, childcare centre, gym and community centre
  • A rich collection of public artworks throughout the precinct
  • Over 500 bicycle spaces, end-of-trip facilities and excellent public transport access to encourage active travel

 

With the total building area spanning 180,000 square metres, the equivalent of nine Melbourne Cricket Grounds, other design features include:

  • 1,500 solar panels helping to power the hospital
  • A rainwater collection system that captures and reuses up to 90% of roof rainfall for cooling, irrigation and toilet flushing
  • Abundant natural light and glass in public areas and patient wards
  • Landscaped spaces featuring hundreds of trees and thousands of plants