Major progress has been made on the Royal Hobart Hospital (RHH) Redevelopment project which will deliver Tasmanians the state-of-the-art hospital they deserve.

The new two storey J-Block (formerly referred to as the temporary in-patient facility) will be ready to accommodate patients from next week.

As part of the $689 million RHH Redevelopment decanting strategy, the 22-bed general medicine unit be the first ward to relocate to J-Block from Tuesday, November 22.

To ensure there is no reduction in beds, five additional beds were opened on ward 6A to complement the general medicine ward.

As we have moved from the construction phase to commissioning, it’s time to refer to these new wards as they will be known in the hospital, as part of J-Block.

J-Block is the area of the hospital’s forecourt and it already accommodates the emergency department and the acute dialysis unit.

The RHH Redevelopment project team and hospital staff are working on the extensive operational commissioning and decanting requirements needed to ensure this is done appropriately and efficiently.

The major infection control clean required of all hospital wards has been completed in general medicine and is now underway in the inpatient mental health wards.

The first of eight scheduled general medicine staff induction sessions start today, while those in mental health commenced last week.

General medicine provides treatment for medical conditions such as for respiratory illness, infections and cardiac conditions.

Mental health inpatients are scheduled to relocate on November 29.

The facility is a critical feature of the decanting plan to allow B-Block to be demolished and the new 10-storey, 250-bed capacity inpatient precinct called K-Block, to be built.

It is part of around $50 million of RHH Redevelopment construction and refurbishment work – the largest capital investment at the hospital in decades.

This is just one part of the decanting plan – we have already seen significant upgrades cross a wide range of areas, including cancer care, ambulatory care, renal dialysis and surgical specialties.

14 Nov 2016