Australia’s first fully integrated digital hospital, St Stephen’s Hospital in Hervey Bay, has already been recognised for its technological advancement and has now been awarded for its building construction.
St Stephen’s Hospital won two accolades - Best Health Service Building over $5 million and Best Overall Construction, Burnett and Wide Bay, at the 2015 Master Builders Construction Awards ceremony held in Hervey Bay on 31 July.
The hospital’s newly-appointed General Manager and Director of Nursing, Amanda Cruwys, said the success of the construction project was a testament to the collaborative efforts of clinicians, patients, architects and builders who ensured that the building not only looked beautiful but also promoted patient safety and healing.
“Healthcare design and technology has progressed a long way and this attractive facility has been designed to improve workflow as well as provide open spaces to promote patient wellbeing.
“The hospital has been designed to meet the needs of the Wide Bay community by providing a very modern healthcare facility which offers the benefits of the latest technology in the hands of experienced medical specialists.
“The technology which replaces hand-written medical charts with electronic medical records increases patient safety by reducing transcription errors and also increases clinicians’ time at patients’ bedsides by reducing administrative tasks,” she said.
Capital Works Project Coordinator Christine Riley said the project team worked with Cockram Construction Limited (CCL) to meet the unique requirements for an environmentally sustainable and modern building that facilitated fully integrated digital health care.
“The hospital building and integrated technology is a showpiece for Australian healthcare, so much so that our executive director, Richard Royle, has been inundated with requests from the national and international health community to visit and view the hospital,” she said.
Opened in October 2014, the $96 million St Stephen’s Hospital, is a private, not-for-profit facility owned and operated by UnitingCare Health.