Launceston General Hospital

The Diamond Jubilee of Queen Victoria was celebrated throughout the empire in 1897. In Tasmania a public meeting was held to determine how the occasion might be marked. The second wife of the governor of Tasmania, Georgina Jane Connellan, Lady Gormanston suggested that a maternity hospital would be a great addition. At the time the only assistance to pregnant women came from untrained and unregulated midwives. It was agreed and a committee of women manage the new facility that opened on 195 St John Street in September 1897. The Queen Victoria Maternity Hospital moved in 1935 and it was not absorbed into the General Hospital until 1993 as the Queen Victoria Maternity Unit.{{Cite web |last=Richards |first=Paul |date=2006 |title=Queen Victoria Hospital |url=https://www.utas.edu.au/library/companion_to_tasmanian_history/Q/Queen%20Victoria%20Hosp.htm |access-date=2024-10-07 |website=www.utas.edu.au}}

The statewide Cardiothoracic and major Paediatric surgery service is provided at the Royal Hobart Hospital.

The hospital supports medical research through the Clifford Craig Medical Research Trust.{{Cite web |title=Clifford Craig Foundation Limited |url=https://www.acnc.gov.au/charity/charities/1602d43d-39af-e811-a962-000d3ad24a0d/documents/ef47556e-51c8-e811-a964-000d3ad244fd |access-date=2025-03-12 |website=Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission}}

The Intensive care unit provides medical staff who work with Ambulance Tasmania and the Royal Flying Doctor Service to provide critical care aeromedical retrieval services throughout Tasmania.

The Tasmanian Government has committed to a $580 million, 10-year redevelopment plan. As part of this initiative, $50 million was allocated in the 2022–2023 state budget to improve facilities and services.{{Cite web |date=2025-03-12 |title=Priority Projects |url=https://www.health.tas.gov.au/about/doing-business-us/priority-projects |access-date=2025-03-12 |website=Tasmanian Department of Health |language=en}}

In January 2023, it was revealed that the hospital helipad in Ockerby Gardens didn't meet the Civil Aviation Safety Authority requirements for medical transport after changes published in December 2018 and initially due to come into effect in December 2021. Patients were flown to Launceston Airport instead before being transported by road in an ambulance ride which added 10 minutes.{{Cite news |date=2023-01-05 |title=Hospital helipad unusable due to updated safety regulations, patients taken to airport 12km away |url=https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-01-05/lgh-helipad-to-be-moved-to-airport-due-to-casa-regulations/101830070 |access-date=2023-01-05 |work=ABC News |language=en-AU}} Vice-president of the Tasmanian branch of the Australian Medical Association, Annette Barratt, expressed concern at the stress that the need to transport patients from the airport would place on Ambulance Tasmania.{{Cite news |last=Cooper-Douglas |first=Erin |last2=Smith |first2=Dan |date=2023-01-06 |title=Regulation changes that rendered hospital helipad unusable 'made public more than four years ago' |url=https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-01-06/casa-changes-lgh-helipad-made-public-in-2018/101832926 |access-date=2023-01-06 |work=ABC News |language=en-AU}}

In February 2023, Tasmanian Premier Jeremy Rockliff announced plans for a new emergency helipad, to be constructed on top of the existing Cleveland Street car park.{{Cite news |first=Damian |last=McIntyre |date=2023-02-09 |title=New site picked for Launceston hospital helipad after existing one failed standards |language=en-AU |work=ABC News |url=https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-02-10/tas-new-helipad-location-picked-for-launceston-general-hospital/101956046 |access-date=2023-02-09}} The upgraded hospital rooftop helipad officially opened in October 2024, restoring direct air ambulance access to the hospital.{{Cite web |date=2024-10-28 |title=New $16 million helipad now operational atop Launceston General Hospital |url=https://pulsetasmania.com.au/news/new-16-million-helipad-now-operational-atop-launceston-general-hospital/ |access-date=2025-03-12 |website=Pulse Tasmania |language=en-AU}}{{Cite web |date=2024-10-28 |title=Launceston General Hospital helipad officially opened |url=https://www.instantconsult.com.au/medical-certificate-online/ |archive-url=https://archive.today/20250312120705/https://www.health.tas.gov.au/news/news/launceston-general-hospital-helipad-officially-opened |archive-date=2025-03-12 |access-date=2025-03-12 |website=Tasmanian Department of Health |language=en}}

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• [https://web.archive.org/web/20080723142558/http://www.dhhs.tas.gov.au/hospitals/launceston_general Launceston General Hospital website]

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Category:Teaching hospitals in Australia

Category:Hospitals in Tasmania

Category:Launceston, Tasmania

Category:Buildings and structures in Launceston, Tasmania

Category:Hospitals established in 1863

Category:1863 establishments in Australia

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