INMR - The Institute for Neuromuscular Research
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About our History

The Royal Alexandra Hospital for Children is one of the most well-respected Paediatric centres in the world, reaching beyond the hospital walls to care for children in country areas and in their own homes, as well as within the hospital itself.

Caring for kids comes naturally to us - we’ve been doing it for over 100 years.

The hospital was originally established in Glebe as the Sydney Hospital for Sick Children in 1880. It received the title Royal Alexandra Hospital for Children in 1904, and two years later moved to Camperdown. For ninety years, Sydney families knew Camperdown Children’s Hospital as the place where their child would receive the best care possible.

By the late 1980’s, it was apparent that we had run out of space, and we began building a new home at Westmead. The buildings were completed after seven years of building and planning. Staff, services and equipment relocated to the Royal Alexandra Hospital for Children, and we welcomed our first patient on 6 November 1995. In 2001, the Hospital changed its name to The Children's Hospital at Westmead to better reflect who we care for- chldren and where we are- Westmead.

We care for patients from newborns to adolescents, with problems as simple as tonsillitis or as complex as cardiac disease needing open-heart surgery.

Every year outpatient services care for over 500,000 patient visits providing occupational therapy, physiotherapy, medical and surgical clinics and counselling services through our psychological medicine department, and child protection unit.

Twenty eight thousand children stay in our hospital overnight each year with an average stay of 3 days.

Our vision will make The Children's Hospital at Westmead a leader in the care and welfare of all children, well or sick, and consolidate our position as a world leader in children’s health. We can only achieve this vision if we continue to work in partnership with the government and the community whose joint support is vital.

 


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