Calvary Adelaide signs key medical group

29th November 2016

Calvary Health Care Adelaide has signed up the State’s leading orthopaedic clinic as the first major tenant for its new $300 million Calvary Adelaide Hospital.

The Wakefield Orthopaedic Clinic will move into the new hospital on completion in 2019, providing its patients with the the latest leading edge in-house orthopaedic rehabilitation facilities and programs to improve post-operative recovery.

Calvary Adelaide Hospital will be South Australia’s largest private hospital, with capacity for 340 beds. Calvary Health Care, established in Australia in 1885, is a Catholic not-for-profit provider of  health, community and aged care services and operates four hospitals in South Australia.

Wakefield Orthopaedic Clinic – established 25 years ago – treated more than 10,000 new patients last year and performed over 2,000 joint replacements and more than 1,200 arthroscopic reconstructive procedures, with its surgeons also consulting and operating in locations across metropolitan and regional South Australia, including the South East, Fleurieu Peninsula, Barossa Valley, Riverland, Mid North, West Coast and Kangaroo Island.

Juanita Ielasi

Calvary Wakefield Hospital Chief Executive Officer, Ms Juanita Ielasi, said Wakefield Orthopaedics was the first major group to sign-up to the new hospital and would make a significant contribution to the hospital’s goal of becoming a national centre of medical excellence.

“Calvary Adelaide Hospital will be the biggest and most comprehensive private hospital ever built in South Australia and will redefine the quality and excellence of private health care in this State and quite realistically, at a national level,” Ms Ielasi said.

“Realising our aspirations for the new hospital will depend on attracting the best medical and health care staff, so we are particularly pleased to have forged an agreement with Wakefield Orthopaedics to bring the long-standing expertise of its specialist orthopaedic team to the new facility.”

Dr Will Duncan

Wakefield Orthopaedic Clinic’s Chair, Dr Will Duncan, said the new hospital would support continued advancement in ‘whole of life’ orthopaedic medicine and provide a range of significant benefits for patients across all age groups – both in terms of clinical expertise and in-house post-operative care and rehabilitation.

“Wakefield has a 25-year history of providing orthopaedic health care to South Australians of all ages – from sports injury management and arthroscopic reconstruction through to arthritis care corrective surgery and joint replacement,” Dr Duncan said.

“We recognise the particular challenges of South Australia’s ageing population and the benefits of ageing well and will be further developing the State’s expertise in managing the personal mobility which contributes so much to healthy ageing and enjoyable longevity.”

Wakefield Orthopaedic Clinic comprises 14 surgeons and 28 health workers and ancillary staff. The Clinic will occupy approximately 1,000 square metres of space and be a significant user of the new hospital’s theatre facilities and allied health services.

Dr Duncan said the clinic planned to increase its specialist orthopaedic surgeons from 14 to 20, improving availability and further reducing waiting times.

Adelaide-based developer, Commercial & General, and prominent construction company, John Holland Constructions are developing the 12-storey hospital on the corner of Pulteney and Angas Streets, Adelaide.