Australia’s leading children’s hospital will soon be able to treat thousands more patients – with a multi-million-dollar expansion of The Royal Children’s Hospital’s emergency department now underway.

Minister for Health Mary-Anne Thomas today announced builders have officially started construction on stage two of the redevelopment with civil and earthworks beginning – paving the way for the major expansion.

The Children’s is home to Victoria’s busiest paediatric emergency department – often seeing more than 300 children a day. The Andrews Labor Government’s nearly $50 million investment will ensure the hospital can see more patients and continue to meet increased demand for specialist paediatric treatment and care.

The project will deliver a bigger and better designed emergency department, creating an extra 20 emergency clinical treatment spaces – meaning even more children can be seen at the same time ultimately reducing waiting times.

The expansion will also upgrade staff rooms, add a new entrance to the emergency department and deliver a purpose-built sensory room to provide children and families with a calming space to receive treatment and care.

The expansion is on-track to be completed in mid-2023 while the upgrade of the existing emergency department is on-track to finish in mid-2024.

The $50 million investment is also delivering a new 30-bed inpatient ward for young patients with a range of illnesses, including cancer as part of stage one. Construction on the 30-bed inpatient ward got underway in March and is on track to be completed later this year.

The new ward will allow treatment of an additional 2,730 children a year, while increasing the emergency department capacity by a third will allow more than 13,000 extra children to be treated each year.

Delivered by the Victorian Health Building Authority (VHBA), the project is expected to create 120 construction jobs.

The hospital is one of the world’s leading institutions for paediatric health, attracting patients with the highest needs from around the globe. It’s also an important hospital in paediatric training and research.