Nearly half a billion dollars have been committed by the NSW Government for a new Statewide Pathology hub at Westmead.
The commitment will provide a state-of-the-art new building on the Westmead Health Precinct site – a new, expanded home for our Westmead labs, including the Institute of Clinical Pathology and Medical Research (ICPMR), and public health pathology services.
This is the single largest injection of funds in pathology infrastructure in recent years.
NSW Health Pathology Chief Executive, Vanessa Janissen, was joined by Premier Chris Minns and Health Minister Ryan Park who announced the funding.
“This announcement represents a ground-breaking investment in the future of public pathology services and strong support for the vital work we do every day,” Vanessa said.
Vanessa encouraged all clinicians to tap into their working knowledge and contribute to the design process.
“Over the next six to 12 months, we will work with medical and scientific leaders to design infrastructure that will benefit us all – and all of our communities across NSW,” Vanessa said.
Nearly $500 million boost for pathology services at Westmead
The Premier said this commitment was a huge step forward in bolstering the health system and building better health infrastructure.
“One of the most common tests that’s required in our public hospitals is a blood test for a suspected cardiac event,” Premier Minns said.
What this will do is see that result turned around in as little as 40 minutes, which could be the difference between life and death,” he said.
The new pathology lab will include an upgrade to the high security PC4 biocontainment laboratory – the only one in NSW.
This lab is used to test, isolate and research high risk infectious diseases that has the potential to be a major infection threat to the wider community.
The new and upgraded statewide pathology hub will support the delivery of local and statewide clinical pathology, public health, medical research, and specialised support services on the Westmead campus.
The Health Minister Ryan Park says the commitment is needed to keep up with demand on pathology services.
“Pathology is involved in around 7 out of 10 decisions that clinicians make, it is the real workhorse of what we do right across the hospital system,” Ryan said.
Population growth and an aging population are two factors that are expected to increase demand on pathology services.
“We know that since COVID, we’ve had growth of around 4% in pathology services that will continue, as we look at more ways to treat illnesses that people are confronted with every day,” Ryan said.
This will allow the hub to take advantage of new and emerging technologies and innovation and best practice models of specialist pathology service delivery.
This means a major referral hospital like Westmead will continue to have a state-of-the-art on-site lab to assist in the provision of the highest standard of specialist care by enabling close collaboration between pathologists and treating clinicians.
Once finished, the current laboratory will be retained for future growth to be determined by Western Sydney Local Health District.