Midland Public Hospital and Midland Private Hospital, is a new health care facility in Midland, Western Australia. St John of God Health Care built and operates the new hospitals under a public-private partnership with the state government. Midland Health Campus has replaced the nearby Swan District Hospital.
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History
Since 1954 the Midland area has been served by Swan District Hospital, which initially opened as a maternity hospital, and expanded to a general hospital in 1963. The hospital was further developed in 1971 and 2001. In September 2005, the then Health Minister Jim McGinty announced that the hospital would be upgraded to a 326-bed general hospital, either through redevelopment of the existing campus, or construction of a new campus in Midland. He confirmed in November 2005 that a new hospital would be built at the site of the former Midland Railway Workshops.
In March 2010 Health Minister Kim Hames confirmed that the new $360 million Midland Health Campus would be provided by a private operator, under a public-private partnership. Expressions of interest were called for in October 2010, with St John of God Health Care announced as the campus operator on 14 June 2012. St John of God Health Care's plan includes a 60-bed private hospital, which will share some services with a 307-bed public hospital. Construction began in August 2012, and is expected to be completed by 2015.
Curtin University plans to open a new medical school to be based at Midland Health Campus but they are yet to obtain accreditation to proceed. There is also controversy surrounding whether Curtin, Midland Health Campus or the WA health system will be able to meet the demand for training of junior doctors within the metropolitan region.
Services
Midland Public Hospital provides a range of medical and surgical services. The hospitals includes an emergency department, critical care unit, maternity unit, neonatology unit, paediatric unit, mental health unit, and various clinical support services. The private hospital provides specialist medical and surgical care for both inpatients and day surgery patients.
Services not offered
St John of God Health Care, in accordance with its Catholic values, will not provide some procedures and services, including abortion, sterilisation, contraception, and assisted reproductive technology. The state government expects that this would affect approximately 250 out of 29,000 patients in the hospital's first year after opening. Terry O'Gorman, president of the Australian Council for Civil Liberties, said that this would compromise the principle of secular public services, and called for contract conditions to require patients to be referred elsewhere. The Opposition's health spokesman, Roger Cook, called for the government to cancel the contract with St John of God Health Care. Subsequently, the government revealed that termination, sterilisation, and contraceptive procedures would be performed by another service provider within the public hospital. Assisted reproductive technology, not currently offered at Swan District Hospital, will remain at King Edward Memorial Hospital.