The new 237-bed Joan Kirner Women's and Children's Hospital will be a multi-storey facility with:

• 20 labour delivery rooms
• 39 special care nursery cots
• 64 women's inpatient beds
• 32 children's inpatient beds
• four operating theatres 
• additional outpatient clinics.

 As part of the project, 55 existing acute adult inpatient beds at Sunshine Hospital will also be refurbished.

With a total of 237 beds in new and refurbished areas, the project will deliver an increase of maternity and paediatric beds – giving Western Health the room they need to grow and meet future demand, with the numbers of births at Sunshine Hospital expected to exceed 7,000 a year by 2026.

When it opens in May 2019, the new Joan Kirner Women's and Children's Hospital will consolidate inpatient and outpatient women’s and children’s services at Western Health, allowing more women in Melbourne’s west to give birth and access children’s services closer to home.

The development will also free up existing beds and facilities at Sunshine Hospital to increase the services Western Health offers to other patients.

Located on the Sunshine Hospital site between the hydrotherapy pool and the radiotherapy centre, the Joan Kirner Women’s and Children’s Hospital will have clear visibility from both the Western Ring Road and Furlong Road.

At nine floors it will be the tallest building on the Sunshine Hospital site, and has flexibility built into its design to ensure it can easily be adapted to future healthcare needs.

The new Joan Kirner Women’s and Children’s Hospital will create more than 400 new jobs, including 150 in nursing and midwifery, and many new positions for medical staff, patient services assistants, pharmacists, imaging technicians and allied health, as well as health support roles such as environmental services, maintenance, and security.

The project has created up to 600 jobs in Melbourne’s rapidly growing western region during construction.

In partnership with the Department of Health and Human Services, Western Health, Lyons (Architect) and Lendlease (Builder).