The Royal Melbourne Hospital (RMH) in Parkville is one of Australia’s leading public hospitals. It is a major teaching hospital for tertiary health care with a reputation in clinical research. The hospital is managed as part of Melbourne Health which comprises The Royal Melbourne Hospital, North West Dialysis Service and North Western Mental Health.

History

Established in 1848 as the Melbourne Hospital, it was one of Melbourne's leading hospitals. Originally located on the corner of Swanston and Lonsdale Streets, Melbourne, in 1935 the hospital was renamed The Royal Melbourne Hospital and, in 1944 it moved to Grattan Street, Parkville by provision of lands in the Royal Melbourne Hospital Act.

The Royal Women's Hospital is currently located in Carlton, Melbourne. The hospital will move in late 2008 to a new building, the new Royal Women's Hospital, located on the Royal Melbourne Hospital site in Parkville.

World War II

During World War II, the Parkville hospital, which was under construction, was occupied by the US Army 4th General Hospital between 1942 and 1944. While the hospital was under construction a temporary tent hospital was set up by the US Army in Royal Park just north of the hospital. Upon completion of the Parkville Hospital the patients were moved progressively into the new accommodation which catered for 2,900 beds.

The Royal Melbourne Hospital continued to operate from their old premises on the corner of Lonsdale and Swanston Streets until the 4th General Hospital relocated to Finschhaven in New Guinea in 1944. The Parkville buildings were reconditioned and the Royal Melbourne Hospital finally moved into their "new" premises in December 1944.

Services and specialties provided

The Royal Melbourne Hospital provides acute tertiary referral services at its main site on Grattan Street between Flemington Road and Royal Parade and ancillary services such as aged care, rehabilitation, ambulatory care and residential and community services through its Royal Park site.

It has one of the largest Emergency Departments in Victoria and is, with The Alfred Hospital, one of Victoria's two major trauma referral centres. The Emergency facilities include: 2 dedicated Trauma bays, 7 resuscitation dedicated cubicles, 25 general cubical beds, and 17 short stay beds. There is also a helipad on top of the hospital so that urgent cases that need to be airlifted from regional areas can be transferred to the Royal Melbourne.

Most medical and surgical specialties are available at the Royal Melbourne Hospital. In addition, the Victoria Infectious Diseases Service (VIDS) is based in the hospital, as is the John Cade Psychiatry Ward and the headquarters of the North Western Mental Health service.

Medical Specialties

• General Medicine: Ward 5 South
• Gastroenterology
• Cardiology/Coronary Care Unit: CCU 2B
• Respiratory Medicine: 5 South West / RCU
• Endocrinology: 3 South and 6 South
• Rheumatology
• Dermatology
• Renal Medicine: 6 South and 6 South-West
• Neurology: 4 South
• Acute Stroke Service: 4 South
• Haematology and Oncology: 5 North
• VIDS/Infectious Diseases: 9 North
• Intensive Care Unit: ICU 2 South

Surgical Specialties

• General Surgery: 3 South West, 3 South
• Trauma: 7 South East, 7 South West
• Cardiothoracic Surgery: 2 West
• Urology: 3 South
• Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery: 7 South East
• Vascular Surgery: 3 South
• Plastic Surgery: 7 South East
• Orthopaedics: 7 South West
• Neurosurgery: 4 South

Mental Health Services

• Department of Psychiatry: 1 North
• Psychiatric Ward: John Cade Building
• North Western Mental Health
• Inner West Mental Health Service

In addition, the Royal Melbourne Hospital has an Enhanced Crisis Assessment & Treatment Team & Triage Service (ECATT) team on call 24 hours a day to assess patients in the Emergency Department.

Postgraduate training & The Clinical School

The clinical school at Royal Melbourne Hospital is one of the clinical schools of the University of Melbourne School of Medicine (the others being based at the St Vincent's Hospital, the Austin Hospital, Goulburn Valley Health, Ballarat Base Hospital and Northeast Health). It is with a high academic standard. It produced the top student in Melbourne University medical school in 2002 and 2003.

In postgraduate training, Royal Melbourne Hospital also produced the number 1 top candidate in the Royal Australasian physician college fellowship exam in the year 2002 and 2003. Most recently in March 2006, it achieved a 100% passing rate for the fellowship written exam. It also produces excellent surgical candidates.

The hospital offers enormous numbers of postgraduate educational activities, including weekly professorial case discussion meeting, grand round, daily morning registrars teaching round, intern training sessions, advanced life support forums, and many other individual department-based educational sessions.

The new residents' quarter is located on the 8th floor, equipped with Foxtel payTV, wireless network, new computers, 10 bedrooms and stunning panoramic view of the city of Melbourne.

Research and Other Medical and Academic Collaborations

The Hospital is recognised internationally for its clinical research in oncology, neurosciences, infectious diseases, diabetes colorectal cancer and mental health.

In addition, there are close ties with:

• The Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research (WEHI)
• Cancer Trials Australia
• The Howard Florey Institute at the University of Melbourne
• Mental Health Research Institute of Victoria
• National Ageing Research Institute
• Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research

References

• Royal Melbourne Hospital website
• OzatWar Website