Casey's new special care nursery

Casey Hospital has celebrated the opening of an expanded special care nursery built to meet the growing demand in Melbourne’s southern suburbs.

The $5.2 million nursery expansion provides the facilities to care for acutely ill babies and has tripled the number of cots at the hospital. The expanded nursery will be able to cater for an extra 1000 births a year.

The expansion will help keep mothers and their babies together by reducing the need to transfer newborn babies requiring extra care to other hospitals. It will also allow for babies with extra needs born at other hospitals to move closer to home with their mothers.

Casey is one of the fastest growing municipalities in Victoria and the Casey Hospital has one of the busiest maternity units in the state. In 2008-09, the hospital recorded 1405 births; a 13.3 per cent increase on the previous year.

Casey Hospital is a 229 bed hospital providing a comprehensive range of health services for the rapidly growing communities of Melbourne's outer-east.

Services include an emergency department, general medical, mental health, rehabilitation, surgical and ambulatory care services.

The expansion will deliver 14 additional special care nursery cots, increasing the number of cots to 20. It also features consulting suites with areas for health promotion, education and support for families with seriously ill babies.