Vision for the future

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More than 60 staff members joined the vision workshop for the New Bankstown Hospital recently, armed with post-it notes and hundreds of ideas for how we could shape our new hospital facilities.

The vision workshop is part of a series of engagement activities, including user groups and community consultation, which will help architects and planners create the initial concept for the new hospital.

“The vision workshop was an opportunity for staff to come to us with their ideas about what makes us unique, what we want to see in a new hospital, and how we can introduce that into our design,” explained project director Jennifer Assaf.

“The half-day session encouraged staff to explore opportunities to create a welcoming and lively new hospital which celebrates Bankstown while delivering world-class healthcare.”

The group considered a range of issues including sustainability, designing for well-being and dignity, Connecting with Country and community, creating neighbourhoods, delivering efficient and flexible care, and how we can harness emerging technologies to deliver a truly digital hospital.

Presentations included case studies from Australia and around the world, using Indigenous design thinking in our Connecting with Country approach, and principles for great hospital design.

“We looked at Humber River Hospital in Canada, Footscray Hospital and the Sunshine Coast University Hospital, and staff particularly loved the natural light, green spaces, patient-centred approach, technological innovation, art, and sense of connection in the new facilities,” Jennifer said.

Diversity, community, culture, family and food were also strong themes, with workshop participants expressing the need to consider and represent those elements in the hospital design.

“The rich diversity of our community is one of the defining features of south western Sydney, so when we’re planning, we need to be mindful of how people live, how they see healthcare, and how we build that into the project,” said general manager Peter Rophail.

With planning and design set to continue for the next 12 to 18 months, and project user groups underway, Peter encouraged staff to have their say.

“This will be something that our community can take pride in, and I encourage all staff to be advocates and have a strong voice as we progress the hospital planning.”

Information from the workshop will be combined with input from more than 100 staff in more than 30 project user groups and working groups to develop a concept for the new hospital.

UPDATE: More than 300 people have noe participated in vision workshops to support our new hospital planning. See the report.