Focusing forward – since 1920

When Ethel Gray, first matron of Epworth, made a speech to lay our foundation stone, could she ever have imagined how far we would come in 101 years?

On our Foundation Day on 27 February, Epworth will begin a new century of care. Over the last 101 years, we can be proud of caring for thousands of patients throughout Victoria plus those who travel to us from interstate and overseas for expert treatment. At the same time, this anniversary marks an exciting start of a new era; this new century is focused on innovation and hope.

This new chapter will see Epworth at the forefront of research into new treatments for oncology patients and developing leading centres of excellence.

In 2020, Epworth opened a leading female pelvic floor medicine and reconstructive surgery centre to help some of the more than one million Australian women who suffer from pelvic disorders. The Pelvic Floor Centre of Excellence at Epworth provides clinical care by a multidisciplinary team.

In February 2021, with the support of the generous donors of the Epworth Medical Foundation, we launched the Jreissati Family Pancreatic Centre at Epworth. The aim of the centre is to not only give patients best care, but to pioneer new diagnosis and treatment options for people with pancreatic disease.

Currently, Epworth is eagerly awaiting the completion of the Epworth Centre for Immunotherapies and Snowdome Laboratories at Hoddle Street, which is due to be launched in March 2021. Immunotherapy holds out great hope for our cancer patients and we look forward to furthering the great promise of these individualised treatments in the management of blood related cancers, along with groundbreaking clinical trials and genomic testing.

As well as these centres of excellence, the state-of-the-art La Trobe Financial Cardiac Catheterisation Unit recently opened at Epworth Richmond, allowing a further 5,300 cardiac patients to be treated annually. The three new catheterisation laboratories within the unit will treat patients requiring heart stents, pacemakers, arrhythmia management, structural heart disease including percutaneous aortic valves and improvement of peripheral vascular disease with the latest technology and 2D and 3D imaging techniques.

Our redevelopment at Epworth Eastern is also progressing – by the end of 2021 the growing population in Melbourne’s east will have more access to emergency services, surgical and medical care.