28 May 2007

Hunter New England Health Chief Executive Terry Clout will officially open the $9.3 million Forensic Medicine facility on the Rankin Park campus tomorrow, 29 May 2007.

The state-of-art Department of Forensic Medicine building is the new home of specialist forensic services from the Royal Newcastle Hospital.

“The facility will provide a 24 hour, seven day a week service and means the Hunter will continue to be a world class provider of forensic needs to local people, as well as from other parts of NSW,” Mr Clout said.

“The Forensic Medicine facility is part of the state wide network of forensic services, providing services for the northern hub of NSW, stretching from the Hawkesbury, across Hunter New England up to the Queensland Border.

“The Forensic Medicine facility is expected to receive 1200 cases each year, of which around 1000 proceed to coronial autopsy,” Mr Clout said.

These may include homicides, suspicious deaths, aviation accidents, deaths of young persons, unidentifiable cases and examination of skeletal remains.

The building is located at the western end of John Hunter Hospital opposite Hunter Area Pathology Service (HAPS). It has been designed with two separate wings to separate post mortem and administration areas.

It features three separate post mortem rooms, seven post mortem tables and two single rooms with separate viewing corridors for homicide and infectious examinations for observation and training purposes.

Mr Clout said the Forensic Medicine facility also houses the latest in high-tech medical imaging technology called Direct Radiology.

“This sort of X-ray equipment removes the need for X-ray cassettes and conventional film processing and delivers efficient and improved quality images. This equipment is then linked on the world’s largest Picture Archive and Communication System (PACS),” Mr Clout said.

“Up to 14 staff, including pathologists, technicians, medical registrars, a forensic counsellor and administration staff will work in this new facility.

“The forensic counsellor is new to the forensic team and will provide grief and trauma counselling, referral to support services and support through education,” Mr Clout said.

The $9.3 million Forensic Medicine facility is part of the $360.8 million Newcastle Strategy – the largest ever investment in the region’s health services.  Forensic medicine is the final major service to relocate from the Royal Newcastle Hospital campus.

Mr Clout said the building was well designed to meet future needs of forensic pathology.

“The new facility has been designed to cope with disaster situations. There are facilities in the car park which can accommodate freezer containers in the event of a major disaster occurring,” Mr Clout said.

“An important feature of the administration wing is the discreet counselling and relatives rooms to enable the sensitive process of identification,” Mr Clout said.

Media Tour: A media tour of the new facility will be conducted prior to the official proceedings at 11.55am on Tuesday 29 May, 2007. Please contact Nerida Walker on 4921 4477 if you would like to attend.

Contact: Nerida Walker

Phone: 4921 4477