Official Opening of Nepean Private Hospital redevelopment
September 2023 update
Nepean Private Hospital opens its $37.7 million redevelopment
By Cassidy Pearce, Western Weekender
September 5, 2023
Nepean Private Hospital’s $37.7 million redevelopment has officially opened, with a ceremony held at the premises last week.
According to former General Manager of Nepean Private Hospital, Dr Tim Sinclair, the concept plan for the redevelopment was created over two years ago, recalling a process which, since then, has been hindered by weather, and the challenge to continue running the hospital throughout.
“I left just before the finish, about six weeks ago now, so it’s been really nice to come back and see the finishing touches put onto the building,” he said.
“It hasn’t been the easiest of builds… but I’m so incredibly proud of the way everyone has come together to ensure that we delivered this end product successfully, and it really is beautiful.”
The three-storey development includes new and refurbished operating theatres, day of surgery admissions centre and the main reception area.
It will also house 17 new consulting suites, a new café, and car park.
For Nicole Waldron, Heathscope’s Chief Operating Officer, seeing the completed project was a dream come true, especially given the amount of work required.
“It’s always a proud moment when you get to open any part of a hospital, but for something as significant as what we’re doing today at Nepean, to see the smiles on everybody’s faces when walking around, and the conversations and what you overhear, there is such a sense of pride,” she said.
“I think the work that’s gone into a facility like this, and to see what it means to people, not just our staff and our doctors, but for our patients and their loved ones, it does change lives, it does make a difference, and it does reinforce why investment in facilities in healthcare is so important.”
The hospital was officially reopened by Member for Penrith, Karen McKeown, who expressed her gratitude for Healthscope’s investment in the region.
“I was fortunate to attend the smoking ceremony that began this incredible project back in October 2021. I was in a different role back then, as the Mayor of the city, and I’m back now as the local MP,” she said.
“There was a sense of hope and anticipation back in the air that day, and now seeing the finished redevelopment I can say with confidence that I think those hopes have been realised.”
After 15 years working in the public health system, Jay Jiang has come on board as the new General Manager of Nepean Private Hospital, helping guide it through its next chapter.
Noting how impressive the facility is, Jiang expressed his excitement to provide the best possible healthcare to Penrith, with the hospital’s cohesive design and convenient location ensuring the best possible patient journey both to and within its walls.
“A lot of people are being asked to travel outside of the west into metro to receive care, and I think for them to have something local so that they can receive care close to home, and have world-class care, is something I’m really excited about,” he said.
June 2023 update - A transformed Main Reception re-opens
The Nepean Private Hospital Main Reception reopened on Monday the 19th June 2023.
Our friendly reception team are welcoming patients, doctors and visitors to our hospital from a central location that is fully refurbishment and redesigned.
Our team help you to find your way and provide the best possible experience when visiting our hospital.Below is the new map showing entry from the car park and street access.
May 2023 update - First surgery in the brand new operating theatre
Congratulations to A/Prof Rami M Sorial & to the Nepean Private Theatre team
We had the pleasure of speaking with A/Prof Rami Sorial, Senior Orthopaedic Surgeon, upon completion of the first procedure in the new operating suite, where he said:
‘It was an honour to perform the first procedure in the new operating suite at Nepean Private Hospital this week. Theatres 9 and 10 have been commissioned and it has been a long time coming with the new build that has been in planning for years now finally realised. Whilst building is still continuing the tolerance demonstrated by all staff and patients to the infliction of building mayhem is finally reaping benefits. Initially was the opening of the new state of the art day surgery suite and now the first procedure in one of the most modern and well kitted out operating suites in Sydney, let alone in Penrith will bring benefits to many of our patients.
The very large operating rooms create a spacious work space that decreases risks of contamination and facilitates work flow by easily accommodating best practice technology including robotics. Audio visual connectivity within the operating room improves visibility of the procedure for all staff assisting with the surgery and that lends itself to increased focus on the patient. High resolution cameras and video equipment highlights an investment in teaching the next generation of medical and nursing clinicians. Quality finishes are well noted and positive pressure air flow improves strategic air circulation to decrease further any risks of infection. This is so important particular in joint replacement surgery. The first procedure was a total hip replacement and the patient made a good recovery.
Hospital management have focused on implementing a successful transition to the new facilities and to date this is progressing steadily and we look forward to the completion of works and full implementation of the Nepean Private Hospital upgrade soon.’
Congratulations again to all involved!
April 2023 update #2
After months of construction and installation, this week we saw the opening of the much anticipated and impressive new purpose built Nepean Private Hospital CSSD.
The new CSSD is more than 4 times bigger than the previous and with 3 new INVITRO washers and 5 new INVITRO steriliser machines, the volume of instruments/ capacity for sterilising has more than doubled. This puts the new CSSD in an exceptional position to support the new theatres opening at Nepean Private Hospital in the coming months and years.
Thank you to the CSSD team who have moved with professionalism and a can do attitude to ensure the new department has opened with ease.
All the equipment, from the previous department and new was checked and validated against the relevant quality standard and using the brand new machines, were put on a disinfection cycle and sterilised, ready for use.
Rhonda Gribble leads the team of nine in the busy CSSD and has done so since 2013. We spoke with Rhonda right in the middle of the first day of opening, beaming with delight, she said “I’m really passionate about the CSSD and have been for a long time but to walk in to a department like this is inspiring. We are working at the forefront of innovation in this field and I am so proud to be working with such a state-of-the-art set up. Machinery aside, the layout of the new CSSD is amazing, the environment is spacious and has lots of natural light. My team all have their own spacious work stations which only improves efficiency and flow throughout the department.”
April 2023 update #1
Day of Surgery Admissions Centre has opened at Nepean Private Hospital.
On the day of the opening, the Nepean Private Hospital team were delighted to have welcomed 54 patients into the beautiful new Centre.
Upon reflection at the end of day one, Julie Essery, Day Surgery Clinical Manager said ‘patients loved the space, loved the colour scheme, loved how much light was coming through the windows, they commented on how calm, peaceful and welcoming the new environment felt. They were very comfortable waiting for their surgery either in bed or in the recliner, with their own TV and own private space’ -Tremendously positive feedback from our patients.
Tim Sinclair, Nepean GM thanked the dedicated team for their collective efforts “I am very proud of the team at Nepean Private Hospital to have reached this important milestone of opening our new Day of Surgery Admission Centre. It was a tremendous effort and support in getting the first phase of our redevelopment completed. Importantly, our patients were incredible impressed by the new environment”.
Congratulations to all involved in Stage 1 of opening the Nepean Private Hospital redevelopment. We eagerly look forward to the next phase, as it nears completion.
March 2023 update
January 2023 update
The expansion of Nepean Private Hospital is progressing as planned. Interior fitout of the new three-story building is moving into its final stages and the development is on track to open in June 2023. Our next major milestone is the opening of our new Day of Surgery Admissions Centre in March. We look forward to providing more services and on-going quality care to the community in Sydney's west.
November 2022 update
The Countdown is really on now to opening the first section of the new building and we’re excitedly watching the interior fitouts come together. In the meantime, we’ve collected some cool stats that have got us to this point. We’ve:
- removed 2750m3 of excavated natural material (eg clay, gravel, soil) from the site – this is a little over a full Olympic-sized swimming pool
- installed 3850 tonnes of reinforcing steel – approximately equivalent to the weight of 25 blue whales!
- poured 1559 m3 of concrete – this would almost fill two Boeing 747 jets
- spent almost 70,000 man hours so far
- generated 317.6 m3 of waste (which equates to almost three double garages), with 93% recycled and only 7% only going to landfill!
October 2022 update
Redevelopment works are cracking on, with windows and walls now being installed in our new building, and plans next week to break through into our existing hospital building. This will enable linkages between the two buildings on the ground floor via an enclosed air-conditioned lobby, and on level 1 (between the new theatres and recovery, and existing theatre) and level 2 (providing direct access into the Women’s Health Unit).
Throughout it all, the timelapse camera never rests and has continued recording progress of the build works. This video picks up from the end of April (that we posted below), showing concrete slabs appearing, walls, lots of scaffolding and steel, and a very active crane!
September 2022 update
We celebrated reaching the highest point of construction yesterday with a topping-out ceremony. This age-old tradition of placing a tree on top of a building structure also acknowledges the achievements to date of our development team. Huge thanks to the project managers, construction managers and the full team who have reached this milestone through one of the wettest years on record!
The development has now passed the halfway point and we are on track to begin providing expanded services for our community from mid-2023.
The ancient and legendary Wollemi Pine found in the Blue Mountains was selected for today’s ceremony. It will be planted adjacent to the building site, forming part of the grounds at Nepean Private.
June 2022 Update
Our construction team have been hard at work on our exciting new redevelopment. Through April and May, the team have laid in-ground services, undertaken preparatory works for the new carpark, started pouring our ground floor slab, and begun erecting scaffolding for our Level 1 work. It’s wonderful to see works now progressing at pace, and we remain on track for completion in mid-2023. We’ve set up a time-lapse camera to capture the action as it unfolds throughout the build, see our progress below!
May 2022 Update
Welcome Steven Rubic - CEO
We welcomed Steven Rubic to Nepean on Monday 2 May, to start our month of celebrations. Steven celebrated with the Midwife team joining them for a morning tea. Our midwives have such a profound impact on the lives of our new parents and their newborns – the care they provide is truly outstanding. Happy International Day of the Midwife to all our Healthscope midwives.
Steven also had a tour of the building site, and was very excited to see the progress of the build.
We are delighted to advise that construction work on our long-awaited Stage 1 redevelopment and expansion has begun! Our multi-million dollar project will deliver a new three storey facility, featuring four additional operating theatres, a pre-admission area, car parking, internal refurbishment and 17 new specialist consulting suites. This redevelopment will further cement Nepean Private as one of NSW’s leading private hospitals, whilst allowing us to deliver an expanded and enhanced healthcare experience for our patients.
Our completion date for the works is mid-2023.
A limited number of consulting suites are still available. Enquiries can be made by phoning: 02 4725 8770
October 2021 update
On Friday 22 October, Nepean Private Hospital hosted a smoking ceremony on the redevelopment site to cleanse the land before embarking on our exciting new hospital redevelopment.
Bigambul man and community elder, Uncle Wes, who has lived in Mt Druitt for more than 45 years performed our welcome and acknowledgement of country before coordinating the smoking ceremony with Ian, a local Dharug man.
It was fabulous to share this important event with many Nepean Private Hospital staff and notably:
• Councillor Karen McKeown, Mayor of Penrith OAM
• Bob McLean, Manager of Australian Acquisitions for Medical Properties Trust
• Jamie Hennessy, Manager Acquisitions for Medical Properties Trust
• Dr Ian Seppelt, Chair of the Medical Advisory Committee, Nepean Private Hospital
Nepean Private Hospital has been providing healthcare services for more than 20 years to people living in the Greater Penrith and Blue Mountains area.
Healthscope’s strategy is to continue to invest and grow its western Sydney hospitals. The western corridor is a fast growing community with over 200,000 people expected to move into the area over the next 10 years.
This stage of our hospital expansion is a $37.7 million project.