| John Hunter Hospital | |
| Map Type: | Australia New South Wales |
| Coordinates: | -32.9225°N 151.693°W |
| Region: | New Lambton Heights |
| State: | New South Wales |
| Country: | AU |
| Healthcare: | Medicare |
| Funding: | Public |
| Type: | Teaching |
| Emergency: | Yes, major trauma centre |
| H1-Number: | 1 |
| H1-Surface: | concrete |
| Affiliation: | University of Newcastle |
| Beds: | 820 inclusive of JHCH and Royal Newcastle Centre |
| Founded: | Nick Greiner Premier of New South Wales |
The John Hunter Hospital and John Hunter Children's Hospital (sometimes known as the JHH and JHCH respectively, or more colloquially the John Hunter) is a teaching hospital and children's hospital in Newcastle, and northern New South Wales, Australia. The 820 bed hospital is the main teaching hospital of the University of Newcastle. The hospital contains the only trauma centre in New South Wales outside the Sydney Metropolitan Area, and has the busiest emergency department in the state.[1] John Hunter is the busiest trauma hospital in the country.
The John Hunter health complex consists of 820 beds in total, and is co-located next to the 174 bed Newcastle Private Hospital, as well as the regional Hunter Area Pathology Service which provides tertiary level pathology testing. The complex consists of a single building, which is divided into 694 adult beds and another 126 paediatric beds in the John Hunter Children's Hospital.
The Royal Newcastle Centre (formerly Royal Newcastle Hospital), opened as an extension wing to the John Hunter Hospital in April 2006, providing 144 of these beds. Patients from the Hunter Region and beyond are referred to John Hunter for treatment in a range of specialities. The John Hunter Children's Hospital and Royal Newcastle Centre are located within the same building as the John Hunter Hospital. Also on the same grounds are Rankin Park Hospital (Rehab), Newcastle Private Hospital and the Hunter Medical Research Institute (HMRI).
The JHH and JHCH are tertiary level hospitals, and provide the following specialties and subspecialties:
| Specialty | Details | |
|---|---|---|
| Anaesthesia | Including sub-specialties in cardiac, neuro, obstetric, paediatric & regional anaesthesia as well as pain medicine (both acute and chronic pain services are available) | |
| Intensive care | The 37 bed intensive care complex provides both adult and paediatric ICU. The 29 bed adult ICU provides of general medical, general surgical, cardiac, trauma & neurosurgical intensive care. The ICU is able to provide advanced respiratory support for severe respiratory failure including invasive ventilation, non-invasive ventilation, high frequency oscillation ventilation, proning, and VV-ECMO. Haemodynamic support available includes vasopressor and inotropic support, advanced haemodynamic monitoring, echocardiography, continuous renal replacement therapy, intra-aortic balloon pump, VA-ECMO and Impella/percutaneous LVAD. Neurocritical care includes EVD pressure monitoring, continuous EEG monitoring, transcranial Doppler. | |
| Paediatric intensive care | The newly built 8 bed PICU was opened in 2017 and is one of 3 tertiary PICUs in the state. Currently funded for 4 beds, and provides non-invasive and invasive ventilator support as well as haemodynamic support. | |
| Neonatal intensive care | 18 NICU and 24 special care beds, providing care for children born as early as 23 weeks gestation. | |
| Retrieval medicine | The Hunter New England Aeromedical Retrieval Service provides both primary (pre-hospital) and secondary (inter-hospital) adult and paediatric retrieval services. Doctors from anaesthesia, intensive care and emergency provide the medical staff, whilst ICU nurses provide nursing support for secondary retrievals. The secondary retrieval service is led by the on-call intensive care specialist. | |
| Emergency medicine | Providing tertiary adult and paediatric emergency care | |
| Trauma | The JHH and JHCH is the busiest trauma centre in the state and the second busiest nationally. It has a dedicated trauma surgical team as well as utilising the expertise of sub-specialty surgeons when required. | |
| Surgical specialties | General surgery Upper GI – hepatic, pancreatic and oesophageal surgery Colorectal surgery – Including laparoscopic and minimally invasive oncology surgery Endocrine surgery Orthopaedics (elective and trauma) Oral and maxillofacial surgery (OMFS) Ear nose and throat (ENT) Head and neck – a combined team of OMFS and ENT surgeons Cardiothoracic surgery – Elective and emergency cardiac, aortic and thoracic surgery. Renal transplant Urology surgery Vascular surgery – Open and percutaneous interventional techniques Ophthalmology Plastic and reconstructive surgery | |
| Medical specialties | General medicine Neurology – General neurology, stroke, interventional neuroradiology (DSA and anaerysm treatment, clot retrieval), EEG, neuropsychology, multiple sclerosis clinics. Cardiology – Interventional, electrophysiology and echocardiography. JHH Interventional Cardiologists have experience in percutaneous techniques such as TAVI and balloon aortic valvulopasty Respiratory medicine – Including sub-specialties of general respiratory, cystic fibrosis & sleep medicine. Toxicology Endocrinology, Gastroenterology, Nephrology and dialysis Rheumatology Immunology Dermatology | |
| Obstetrics and gynaecology | Including gynae-oncology and high risk maternal-fetal medicine unit | |
| Radiology | Xrays, CT, MRI, nuclear medicine and interventional radiology including embolization. | |
| Psychiatry | Both adult and paediatric psychiatry services are provided, both in-hospital and community. |
The John Hunter Hospital and John Hunter Children's Hospital consists of the following ~30 bed wards. Wards are designated by their horizontal position along the hospitals long corridor (by letter) and the number indicates which level of the hospital the ward is on (Levels 1–3). Hence ward E3 is positioned above E2 and next door to ward F3.
A unique aspect of the John Hunter Hospital is the reasoning behind its name. Rather than being named after one person, the JHH is named in honour of three men, all of whom were called John Hunter. They were:
In late 2021, a solar installation said to be the largest on any hospital in the world, was switched on at the John Hunter Hospital. It contains more than 5,000 solar panels, covers 12,000 square metres, and generates 3.24 gigawatt-hours per year.[2]