The Victorian Heart Hospital (VHH), scheduled for completion in 2022, will bring together world-class cardiac care, research and education.
The $564 million facility, a joint partnership between the Victorian Government, Monash Health and Monash University, will also be home to the new Monash University Victorian Heart Institute.
Director of the VHH Professor Stephen Nicholls said recently that co-locating and embedding research with clinical care ensures the best environment for innovation and improves patient outcomes.
“We can bring the latest cutting-edge treatments to our patients that we have today, and by embedding research within the building – engineering, cell therapy, pharmacological therapy, new tests and devices – we are also part of the future in finding new solutions,” Professor Nicholls said.
“Our researchers and clinicians are going to be here together, rubbing shoulders in the hallways and coming up with new ideas.”
The VHH will have the capacity to provide each year:
- 2,150 cardiac surgery operations
- up to 13,500 cardiac laboratory procedures
- 8,500 cardiac CT scans
- 2,800 cardiac MRI scans
- 28,300 cardiac ED presentations
- 48,000 clinic / telemedicine consultations
- and 60,000 consulting room consultations.
But there is some concern that a dedicated heart hospital won’t necessarily deliver comprehensive patient care.
Is it just me, or do others think this is a retrograde step? When I trained I learnt that the heart was connected to other parts of the body. Will there be a hospital for “everything else”built next door? Will the frail or those with co-morbidity have to go elsewhere for surgery? https://t.co/lugVYq4FyG
— Richard Lindley (@ProfGerMed) November 26, 2021
The Twittersphere has questioned whether “single organ” hospitals aren’t a bit ..well, old fashioned or might strip resources from adjacent general hospitals. One comment called it a PCI factory; another asked whether some of the dollars could have gone to prevention.
Have your say.