Royal Women's Hospital, Melbourne

The Royal Women's Hospital, located in the Melbourne suburb of Carlton, is Australia's largest specialist women's hospital, offering a full range of services in maternity, gynaecology, neonatal care and women's health. It also offers complementary services such as social work, physiotherapy and pastrol care. Specialist clinics in Infertility and Endometriosis are also available. It is a major teaching hospital of over 200 beds with links to the University of Melbourne and La Trobe University. Co-located in the same building is the Frances Perry Private Hospital, a 69 bed private hospital for women.

In 2007 Professor Jeremy Oates, clinical director of women's services at the Royal Women's Hospital, said increasing births were stretching the hospital's resources. "I came to the Women's in November 2001 and I think there were roughly 4900 births that year. This year we're looking like we'll get close to 6500."

Controversies
In 2001 the Royal Women’s Hospital, Melbourne was the target of a complaint from Senator Julian McGauran to the Medical Practitioners Board of Victoria regarding a late-term abortion carried out in February 2000. The complaint of professional misconduct was finally dismissed by the Board as being frivolous and vexatious on 15 September 2006.

History
The hospital was established at Eastern Hill by doctors Richard Tracy and John Maund on 19 August, 1856 as a place where under-privileged women could give birth with proper medical attention. The doctors were assisted by a group of women led by Mrs Frances Perry, the wife of the Bishop of Melbourne. The original title for the hospital was the Melbourne Lying-in Hospital and Infirmary for Diseases Peculiar to Women and Children. In 1858 it was relocated to its present site in Carlton. In March 1884, the hospital was renamed The Hospital for Women, with the royal title being conferred on 6 September 1954.

In 2005 Victorian Premier Steve Bracks and Health Minister Bronwyn Pike announced a major redevelopment and relocation of the Royal Women's Hospital and Frances Perry Private Hospital next to the Royal Melbourne Hospital on the corner of Grattan Street and Flemington Road in Parkville. The new building and facilities are expected to open in 2008.