Royal Adelaide Hospital

nRAH

The Royal Adelaide Hospital (RAH) is Adelaide's (and South Australia's) largest hospital. With 800 beds, the RAH provides tertiary health care services for South Australia and provides secondary care clinical services to residents of Adelaide's city centre and inner suburbs.

The hospital was founded in the Adelaide Park Lands on the north side of North Terrace between Frome Road and the Adelaide Botanic Gardens in 1856,^[1] and was officially proclaimed "Royal" on 26 November 1949.^[2] It is adjacent to both the University of Adelaide and the University of South Australia. Its campus is also home to the University of Adelaide's Medical School, the Adelaide Dental Hospital, the Hanson Institute and SA Pathology.

The new Royal Adelaide Hospital (nRAH)

To be completed in 2017, the new Royal Adelaide Hospital (nRAH) is currently being built in the Adelaide Park Lands on the north side of North Terrace, between Morphett Street and West Terrace. The hospital grounds will encompass 10 hectares within central Adelaide,^[3] and upon completion later this year, is set to be the most expensive hospital ever built in the world, with a total cost of approximately A$2.1 billion.^[4] It is the single largest infrastructure project in South Australia's history.^[5]

SAHMRI

The new hospital will have 800 beds (700 overnight, 100 same day), an increase from 680 beds (650 overnight and 30 same day) on the current site, providing the capacity to admit approximately 85,000 inpatients see 400,000 outpatients per year.^[3][5][6] 6,000 staff are expected to work at the hospital,^[3] and all beds will be single patient suites with private bathroom facilities. There will be 40 large identical operating suites built to the world's best standards, each measuring 65m².^[5] The nRAH will also be Australia's most technologically advanced hospital, with a fleet of automated robotic vehicles to help move supplies, meals and equipment around the hospital, and a tailor made patient electronic medical record (EMR). Other technology features including patient weighing beds, wireless technology and equipment tracking capability, and intelligent information systems such as bedside entertainment and meal ordering for patients.^[7] For hospital staff, amenities will be supplemented by a commercial precinct including a crèche, mini-mart, restaurant, cafes and gymnasium.^[8]

The hospital has also been designed with an ambitious 50% target reduction in greenhouse gas emissions compared to equivalent hospitals. A co-generation system will utilise waste heat from energy generators to provide the primary source of heating to the building's domestic hot water system. Orientation of the buildings is optimised to minimise solar thermal loads, with extensive daylight penetration to reduce artificial lighting requirements. Rainwater and stormwater harvesting will be used to offset potable water requirements, along with extensive use of water sensitive landscaping and a water efficient thermal plant.^[9]

The new RAH will form an integral part of the new biomedical precinct taking shape in Adelaide, termed the Adelaide BioMed City. Other facilities will include the South Australian Health and Medical Research Institute (SAHMRI) which has been completed, the new University of Adelaide Health and Medical Sciences building (completion due in early 2017), University of South Australia’s new Health Innovation Building, and Flinders University’s John Chalmers Centre for Transforming Healthcare, including a Proton Therapy Unit.^[10][11] There also plans for the New Women's and Children's Hospital to eventually be co-located at this site.

The original Royal Adelaide Hospital will close when the new hospital is completed, and some of the land currently occupied by the hospital will be returned to the Park Lands and incorporated into the Adelaide Botanic Gardens.^[12]

The original Royal Adelaide Hospital (RAH)

Royal Adelaide Hospital
Geography
Location	Adelaide, South Australia, Australia
Organisation
Care system	Public Medicare (AU)
Hospital type	Teaching
Affiliated university	University of Adelaide
Services
Emergency department	Yes
Beds	680
Speciality	Burns, Neurology & Neurosurgery, Oral and maxillofacial surgery, Thoracic medicine and Cardiovascular surgery
History
Founded	1841
Links
Website	http://www.rah.sa.gov.au/
Lists	Hospitals in Australia

Directions and wards

North Wing

The North Wing is home to wards R3-S3-S5 (Orthopedics), Q3 (Acute Surgical Unit) Q5 (ENT and Eyes), Q6 (Colorectal Surgery), Q7-R6 (Gastric and Upper GI Surgery), Q8—R7-R8-S7 (Medical), R4A (Spinal), R5 (NeuroSurgery), S6 (Breast and Endocrine Surgery, Urology), S2 (Thoracic Medicine), S8 (Geriatric medicine, Infectious diseases unit and Endocrinology) and S5 (Plastics).

East Wing

The East wing has 10 Wards for Psychiatry, Stroke, Renal, Oncology, Cardiology and Vascular Surgery, including A4-7, B5-8 and C3-6. Ward D6 is currently under redevelopment and a 9th floor is also being built. New lifts have been installed in the main foyer of the East Wing (which services the whole wing), with a further two in the process of being replaced. The East Wing also houses C-Max (private medical research company), the RAH Cancer Centre, and Outpatient Chemotherapy facilities.

Theatre Block

All of the 23 operating theatres are in this block. All of the treatment centres for the many specialties covered can also be found in this block, such as Nuclear Medicine and Cardio-Vascular Investigation Unit.

Emergency Block

The Emergency Department, along with Renal Centre (Dialysis) and other departments, is found in this block. The two Patient Transport Lifts (PTL), which are reserved for patient transport/medical equipment use only, are also in this block. The Emergency department underwent a total refurbishment in 2003, in addition to an extension; it is now a state of the art Emergency facility with 4 specialised Resuscitation/Trauma Rooms, 5 patient care areas (Diagnostics, Admissions, short stay, psychiatric short stay and Fast Track) and also houses the Hospital's Radiology department. The Radiology department runs 24 hours a day and has 2 modern CT machines, two interventional angiography suites, multiple ultrasound and plain x-ray rooms. The Orderlies office is also located in Emergency, along with the ambulance entrance and Triage.

Outpatients

All specialist offices are found in the Outpatient blocks from levels 3-9. This block has access to the Hospital's helipad, via the Outpatient lifts.

Hone Wing

The Hone Wing is home to the Department of Radiation Oncology and holds 5 bunkers containing Varian linear accelerators.

McEwin Building

The McEwin Building is situated to the east of the hospital. It is home to the Sleep Disorders Laboratory, containing four beds (Level 6), and Transfusion (Level 5).

P Wing

This new wing holds the 3 unit 33 bed Intensive Care Unit, the Burns Unit (the only international Burns Unit to be verified by the American Burn Association) and PARU (Post-Anaesthetic Recovery Unit), all on level 4.

Residential Wing

This was built in the 1970s and was initially for students who would be working at the RAH too. However, later on, it was being used by many other students and patients relatives.

Departments

Allied Health

Includes: Audiology, Clinical Dietetics, Clinical Pharmacy, Clinical Psychology, Health Promotion, Nutrition and Food Services, Orthotics and Prosthetics, Occupational Therapy, Physiotherapy, Podiatry, Social Work and Speech Pathology.

Department of General Services

The Department of General Services includes Security, Orderlies, Cleaning, Waste Management (Porters) and Parking. Their office is located in the Residential Wing.

Hyperbaric Department

The Royal Adelaide Hospital is the only provider of hyperbaric oxygen therapy in South Australia.^[13] The Hyperbaric Medical Unit (HMU) has been in operation since 1985 and has been in its current location since 2001.^[13][14] The principal treatment equipment is a pair of twin-lock, multiplace hyperbaric chambers. One of these chambers was the first rectangular steel chamber in Australia.^[15][16] The HMU co-ordinates the Divers Emergency Service (DES), a telephone-based consultation service for diving-related matters within Australia, the Southern Pacific and Southeast Asia.^[17]

Nursing Department

The Nursing Department oversees all nursing aspects of the Royal Adelaide Hospital.

See also

• List of hospitals in Australia

References and Citations

External links

• Royal Adelaide Hospital Homepage