St John of God Midland Public Hospital is a 367 bed public hospital providing free, high quality hospital services for patients in Perth's east metropolitan and Wheatbelt regions.
The hospital opened on 24 November 2015 replacing the former Swan District Hospital as an expanded general hospital following a $360 million investment. With over 3000 caregivers, St John of God Midland Public Hospital is dedicated to delivering compassionate and expert health care to the people of Midland and the surrounding areas.
Key services
Our key services include:
- emergency department
- critical care unit
- day chemotherapy unit
- aged care and stroke ward
- maternity ward
- mental health unit
- surgical and medical wards.
Public-private partnership
Our hospital operates under a public-private partnership (PPP) between the State Government and St John of God Health Care. The Commonwealth and State Governments jointly invested $360 million to build the hospital.
This is the third such arrangement in Western Australia. Elsewhere in Australia the PPP model is well established, where Catholic and other not-for-profit hospitals have provided public health services for many years.
St John of God Health Care's 20 year contract with the State Government represents value for Western Australian taxpayers, while ensuring the delivery of high standards of care consistent with or better than other public hospitals.
Research at St John of God Midland Public Hospital
We currently have around 80 ethically approved active research projects registered at St John of God Midland Public and Private Hospitals, many of which have partnerships with universities and other health service providers. Our research portfolio ranges in complexity and consists of quality improvements, observational, interventional studies and randomised controlled clinical trials.
Our research program recognises the importance of research and supports initiatives in providing high quality evidence based service delivery.
Some of our research projects include:
- Aboriginal health research
- Allied health research
- Emergency medicine research
- Infectious diseases research
- Orthopaedic research
- Stroke rehabilitation research
- Cancer research
- Clinical Trials Unit
- General surgery research
- Intensive care research
- Respiratory medicine research.
Hospital design
The hospital’s design aims to create a welcoming place where all members of the community experience hospitality and a sense of belonging.
The external design takes inspiration from the surrounding heritage buildings in the Midland Railway Workshops precinct. Such as the red bricks used for the hospital’s southern block, the silver metal cladding finishes to the northern block and other details throughout.
The large civic plaza welcomes patients and visitors into the hospital foyer. The spacious area features shady gardens, waiting areas, retail outlets and spaces for community activities as well as public art installations.
Inside, floors are named after geographical areas within the hospital’s catchment - Swan Valley, Avon Valley, Helena River and Darling Scarp. Colours and symbols reflecting these areas continue through each floor, in corridors and in wards to further assist with wayfinding.
Symbolic artwork
Art is woven throughout our hospital, with artworks by local artists on display throughout the hospital.
From the towering, illuminated sculpture at the entrance to delicate murals in our maternity and paediatrics wards, each piece reflects themes of journey, and spiritus and healing.
Artwork by local Aboriginal artists features prominently in the hospital, including the Welcome to Country in our foyer’s glass panels, traditional Noongar designs in the plaza tiles, and shade canopies at the front of the hospital.
These works form part of the hospital’s Public Art Strategy, which was developed by not-for-profit cultural organisation form.
The focus on including artwork at the hospital is a part of a wider St John of God Health Care initiative to emphasise the value of art in enhancing the holistic health, healing and wellbeing of patients and the broader community.
History of St John of God Midland Public Hospital
In 2012 St John of God Health Care signed a 23 year public-private partnership agreement with the WA State Government to build and operate the hospital.
The $360 million hospital was jointly funded by the State and Commonwealth governments and St John of God Health Care fully funded the previously co-located 60 bed private hospital at a cost of $70 million.
St John of God Health Care partnered with Brookfield Multiplex to design and construct the purpose built, modern hospital we see today.
The hospital development was part of a wider transformation of the Midland and Swan region, which is an important commercial and residential precinct and hub for Perth’s eastern suburbs and Wheatbelt communities.
Furthermore, the hospital is contributing positively to Aboriginal health outcomes, with the east metropolitan region home to about one quarter of all Aboriginal people in Perth.
As such, the local Aboriginal community was closely consulted during the design and building stages to ensure the hospital is a welcoming, culturally appropriate place and is well-placed to become a centre of excellence for Aboriginal health care.