Health Minister Amber-Jade Sanderson today opened the new 24-bed Intensive Care Unit (ICU) at Royal Perth Hospital (RPH), which will take patients from Wednesday.
The new $29 million redevelopment has 24 single rooms, including one positive pressure room, four negative pressure rooms and two rooms equipped to accommodate bariatric patients.
The unit has been developed so it can be optimised for COVID-19 conditions, including frequent air changes throughout the unit, separate rooms fitted with switch glass windows and a ventilation system that enables the safe accommodation of both COVID and non-COVID patients.
The new ICU accommodates a dedicated simulation training room where training exercises can be observed from behind a one-way mirror.
The facility includes a new clinical information system to capture, record and collate patient data electronically.
It will be staffed by about 250 staff members, including around 170 nurses and about 50 doctors, allied health and support staff.
An additional 30 nurses have recently qualified to work in the RPH ICU through an accelerated training program and more nurses will undertake this training within the coming weeks.
The additional RPH ICU beds bring WA Health’s ICU capacity to 145 beds.
These beds are part of the McGowan Government’s COVID-19 response, to build capacity in our hospitals.
As stated by Health Minister Amber-Jade Sanderson:
“The state-of-the art facility will accommodate the sickest of our patients and will boost Western Australia’s ICU capacity during this heightened phase of the pandemic.
“The opening of this facility is timely given the recent rise in WA’s COVID caseload and brings the State’s ICU capacity to 145 beds.
“The ICU has been developed so it can be optimised for COVID-19 conditions, including frequent air changes throughout the unit and separate rooms fitted with switch glass windows.
“This is all part of the McGowan Government’s COVID-19 response to build capacity in our hospital system.”
