John Hunter Hospital


The John Hunter Hospital and John Hunter Children's Hospital is the principal referral centre and a tertiary hospital for Newcastle, and northern New South Wales, Australia. The 796 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. John Hunter is the busiest trauma hospital in the state, and the second-busiest in the country behind The Alfred Hospital in Victoria.

Overview

The John Hunter health complex consists of 796 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, 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, Newcastle Private Hospital and the Hunter Medical Research Institute.

Specialty Services Provided

The JHH and JHCH are tertiary level hospitals, and provide the following specialties and subspecialties:
SpecialtyDetails
Anaesthesiaincluding sub-specialties in Cardiac, Neuro, Obstetric, Paediatric & Regional anaesthesia as well as Pain Medicine
Intensive CareThe 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 and VA-ECMO.
Neurocritical care includes EVD pressure monitoring, continuous EEG monitoring, transcranial Doppler.
Paediatric Intensive CareThe 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 Care18 NICU and 24 Special care beds, providing care for children born as early as 23 weeks gestation.
Retrieval MedicineThe Hunter New England Aeromedical Retrieval Service provides both primary and secondary 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 medicineProviding tertiary adult and paediatric emergency care
TraumaThe 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

Oral and Maxillofacial surgery

Ear Nose and Throat

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
Medical Specialties
General Medicine

Neurology – General neurology, stroke, interventional neuroradiology, 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 GynaecologyIncluding Gynae-oncology and high risk maternal-fetal medicine unit
RadiologyXrays, CT, MRI, Nuclear medicine and interventional radiology including embolization.
PsychiatryBoth adult and paediatric psychiatry services are provided, both in-hospital and community.

Wards

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 and the number indicates which level of the hospital the ward is on. 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: