Casey Hospital is a public hospital providing a comprehensive range of health services for the rapidly-growing communities of southeast Melbourne.
This includes general medical, emergency, intensive care, mental health, rehabilitation, maternity and special care nursery, surgical and ambulatory care services.
The hospital also provides paediatric services for Monash Children’s Hospital and is a centre for the leading cardiac services of MonashHEART.
In 2004 Plenary entered into a concession with the Victorian Government to provide the hospital and associated non-clinical services.
Design features
The site master plan facilitated the development and expansion of the facility in a logical and costeffective manner. Located in a major growth corridor, the site planning strategies adopted turned largely on ease of access, entry and expansion.
This included the establishment of clear expansion zones for additional functional units to cater for future growth.
Expansion project
In 2020 work was completed on a 13,000-square-metre expansion – one of the first successful expansions of an operating hospital public-private partnership in Australia – to increase the hospital’s capacity, allowing it to cater for more patients, more surgeries and more births in one of Australia’s fastest-growing areas.
The expansion comprises 12 intensive care unit beds as part of the hospital’s new ICU, 128 inpatient beds, 12 day surgical beds as part of a new day surgery unit, and four additional operating theatres, all publicly operated by Monash Health.
It also includes upgraded pharmacy, pathology and back-of-house areas, more than 300 new staff and public car parks, and new education and training spaces for Monash University.
The expansion will see Casey Hospital each year treat more than 25,800 extra patients, perform an extra 8,000 procedures and support an extra 1,300 births.
Innovations
Casey Hospital was the first major metropolitan hospital in Victoria to have environmental sustainability targets for energy imposed as a preconstruction requirement.
Through its design response, Plenary Health provided a number of innovative solutions that targeted minimal energy consumption outcomes, enabling it to meet the energy target requirements.
As a first of its kind, the food preparation facility provided a full roof exhaust canopy, removing the need to provide significant dedicated exhaust systems. This provided an energy efficient outcome as well as providing a better environment for kitchen staff.
Local economic impacts
Monash Health employs around 700 people in total, with some 460 of those full-time employees.
