Our history
The single streamlined governance structure of Fiona Stanley Fremantle Hospitals Group (FSFHG) helps ensure greater integration between the Fiona Stanley and Fremantle hospitals with better access and flow for patients within and across specialty areas.
Named after eminent Western Australian doctor and Australian of the Year Professor Fiona Stanley AC (external site), the development of Fiona Stanley Hospital commenced as a result of the 2004 Reid Report which set out a clear direction for the Western Australian public health system for the next decade and beyond.
The site
The 32-hectare site in Murdoch was chosen for its proximity to Perth’s growing south metropolitan population and nearby health and learning institutes.
On 26 August 2007 a clearing permit for the site was issued by the Department of Environment and Conservation. Then, on 7 July 2008, the Federal Minister for the Environment, Heritage and the Arts granted approval for the project under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999.
Consultation
Developed in close consultation with clinicians and the community, Fiona Stanley Hospital’s team of architects and health planners worked with an extensive range of people – including medical, nursing, allied health and other healthcare staff, private, non-government and research organisations, patients and members of the public – to design Western Australia’s new tertiary hospital. The result was a design based on national and international research and principles of environmental sustainability, good accessibility and a healing health care environment.
Between 2008 and 2010 clinical and community groups also viewed prototype patient and consulting rooms. The feedback which they provided was used to assist the design team in the development of the hospital. A Community Reference Group was formed in 2009 and met quarterly to discuss and provide advice on various elements of the hospital’s design.
Conservation and the environment
In March 2009 the Stage One contract was awarded. Construction commenced on-site on 23 September 2009 after an extensive environmental program was undertaken, which saw more than 300 grass trees and zamias removed from the site to be replanted within the operational hospital grounds.
Native plants which are difficult to grow from seeds, including orchids and other plants, were also recovered from the site to be replanted at Fiona Stanley Hospital and nearby conservation areas at a later date.
Sixty-one quendas (southern brown bandicoots) were transferred to the Department of Environment and Conservation for relocation to Julimar Conservation Park. In addition, more than 4500 reptiles and amphibians, including frogs, snakes and lizards, were successfully relocated to Beeliar Regional Park.
In November 2010, Fiona Stanley Hospital was the winner of the WA Environment Award in the Government Leading by Example category.
Facilities management
In July 2011, the State Government awarded Serco Australia the facilities management contract for non-clinical and support services at Fiona Stanley Hospital. Serco is a major organisation with local, national and international experience in facilities management.
Serco provides a range of facilities management and support services, such as:
- linen
- waste
- supplies
- patient transport
- helpdesk
- safety and incident management
- reception
- parking and fleet management
- occupational safety and health (OSH) and injury management
- human resources
- electronic records management
- information and communications technology (ICT) and digital technology
- managed equipment service
- energy and utilities
- estate and grounds management.
More information:
Fremantle Hospital started as a two storied residence built in 1856 by convict labour using stone from the nearby Fremantle Prison grounds. Known as The Knowle, the building remains on the hospital grounds today.
In January 1897, The Knowle became Fremantle Public Hospital and opened with 52 beds.
By 1900, two additional wards and an operating theatre were needed, with medical, surgical, community and paediatric wards later added to meet the health needs of the community.
In the years that followed, further additions included the Ron Doig Block in 1934 and the William Wauhop Wing in 1960. In those intervening years, as the world experienced world wars and the Great Depression, the hospital cared for those with illnesses including the bubonic plague, typhoid, diphtheria, and pneumonic influenza. As patient numbers increased, planning for a new hospital became a necessity. In 1981 Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II officially opened B Block, naming it the Princess of Wales Wing. In April 1983, the Princess of Wales visited the building named in her honour.
Alongside its history of outstanding clinical care, Fremantle Hospital housed leaders in medical excellence, including Nobel Prize for Medicine or Physiology winner Professor Barry Marshall AC, who in 1982 was a senior registrar. Two years later, he and Robin Warren proved Helicobacter pylori infections played a major role in causing peptic ulcers and that specific antibiotics could kill the bacteria and permanently cure the ulcers.
In 2015, the focus of the hospital changed from a tertiary hospital with an emergency department and intensive care unit to a specialist site for aged care, mental health and elective surgery.
Ongoing investment continues through the upgrade of eight surgical theatres, a new 14-bed short-stay surgical unit, opening of additional beds and the new 40-bed mental health development. These will further develop the hospital’s specialist care provision over the coming years. It also recently unveiled the first robot assisted joint replacement technology for public patients.