2017 Year in ReviewIt's been a big year!

We had concrete, cranes, cars, kaleidoscopes and celebrations at the Blacktown and Mount Druitt Hospitals Expansion Project this year, completing the surgical and drug health expansion at Mount Druitt, topping out our new car park at Blacktown, and starting construction on the acute services building which will transform Blacktown into a major tertiary hospital for western Sydney. 


Among the highlights were the tick of approval from NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian, who visited twice this year to inspect progress on construction at Blacktown, and to receive an update on stage 2 projects at Mount Druitt. 

“Five per cent of the NSW population will use this facility. This is a world class, best practice hospital.” Ms Berejiklian said. 

“I’m thrilled that such good progress has been made and I want to thank all the great people here who continue to work day in and day out to deliver this world class facility to the people of NSW.”
Consultation and engagement continued to be a strong feature of the project in 2017, with more than 4,000 consultation interactions taking place this year. 

“Consultation and co-design continues to be a priority for us,” said project manager Robyn Campbell.

“We’ve had consumer representatives on every clinical and patient-related user group, as well as continuing engagement through community consultation, arts and culture program and communications program.

“We also worked with more than 1000 staff and community members to create Kaleidoscope, our stage 2 arts and culture strategy, which included surveys with people from more than 30 language groups,” she said. 
Robyn said the Aboriginal healing garden at Mount Druitt Hospital was a highlight of 2017. The garden includes motifs designed by Indigenous artist Uncle Danny Eastwood, and designs rendered into sculpture by artist Henryk Topolnicki. 

 “Mount Druitt Healing Garden was a proposal of local Aboriginal elders and was designed in collaboration with Aboriginal artist Danny Eastwood and Muru Mittigar Aboriginal Cultural and Education Centre,” Robyn said. 

“It creates a special garden for the Mount Druitt Hospital Community Dialysis Centre which can be shared by the nearby Palliative Care Unit and the rest of the hospital.”

The seat and paving are surrounded by traditional Aboriginal bush tucker, weaving and healing plants which will create a rich sensory and tactile garden experience for patients, carers and staff. A contemporary smoking pit creates a focal point for future ceremonies and celebrations. 

The Community Dialysis Centre will open in 2018, as will a new multi-storey car park at Blacktown. Construction will continue on the new acute services building, while behind-the-scenes a major project will be reshaping the way we deliver services. 

Acting BMDH general manager Jude Constable said consultation with staff and consumers will continue to be a focal point next year as a major model of care project rolls out for stage 2.

 “Expanding our hospitals is not just about getting bigger. The move from a district hospital to major tertiary hospital requires a major rethink of how we do everything. A new project is now underway to review our models of care to ensure we are better, not just bigger.”

2017 Highlights

In 2017, we:

• Awarded the tender to construct the new acute services building at Blacktown to AW Edwards and watched as the new building emerged – it’s now up to level 4
• Won three International Academy for Design & Health 'Academy Awards' for best international project, best use of public art and best interior design, making our stage 1 clinicalit one of the best-designed hospitals in the world
• Worked with staff to design and deliver the B2Hub, transitioned to activity-based working and shared our experience with more than 500 visiting health and project professionals
• Marked the start of construction with a traditional Aboriginal smoking ceremony with local Elder Uncle Stephen Williams 
• Opened new facilities for pre-admission clinic and recovery, a new digital theatre, a new Centre for Addiction Medicine and a new MRI service at Mount Druitt Hospital
• Constructed a new Community Dialysis Centre for Mount Druitt – commissioning is underway for opening in 2018
• Completed detailed design was completed for the new acute services building
• Topped out Blacktown Hospital’s new 414-space car park – it will open in early 2018
• Started a new activity-based working project with our Allied Health team
• Kicked off a new model of care project which will redefine the way we deliver services in our new facilities - more about this next year.

Coming up in 2018:

• Blacktown car park opening
• Mount Druitt Community Dialysis Centre opening
• Construction progresses on new acute services building at Blacktown
• Major service redesign project for models of care.