The Minister for Health, Jillian Skinner, today joined patients, staff and supporters at a ‘topping out’ ceremony for the new clinical services wing at Sydney Children’s Hospital, Randwick.

Minister Skinner said the new five-storey wing will provide staff with the space and resources needed to continue delivering world class health care to the thousands of children who attend the hospital every year.

Topping out ceremonies are common in construction and celebrate the last beam being placed on the top floor of a new building.

“It’s wonderful to see this impressive building get to the topping out stage,” Mrs Skinner said.

“This means the building is well on its way to completion, and some of the State’s youngest patients will soon have access to a bigger and better paediatric hospital.”

The new wing at Sydney Children’s Hospital will include:

• ​an eight-bed child and adolescent mental health unit
• a comprehensive brain injury rehabilitation centre (partly funded by the Motor Accidents Authority of NSW)
• a surgical inpatient ward
• a new family centre for parents and carers; and
• new clinical office space for health care professionals from a range of disciplines.

Local MP, Bruce Notley-Smith, said that while there is still work to be done, the building structure is now complete and the community will see the $27.7 million wing fitted out and open to patients in 2013. 

“Construction started late last year, and the wing is funded through a partnership between the NSW Government and the SCH Foundation.

"Sydney Children’s Hospital is one of the state’s leading centres for paediatrics and child health and the services it offers will be substantially boosted by the new building.

The Member for Vaucluse, Gabrielle Upton, said that the new wing would not be possible without the support of the community it serves.

“We are pleased to be working in partnership with the Sydney Children’s Hospital Foundation on what promises to be a wonderful facility for the children of NSW,” Ms Upton said.

“The NSW Government has committed $12.7 million towards the new building, with the Sydney Children’s Hospital Foundation committed to raising funds for the remainder of the project,” she said.

During the topping out ceremony, patients, families and guests had an opportunity to sign and hand paint one of the final pieces of structural steel, before it was craned onto the new wing.

 Each year, the Hospital cares for more than 40,000 children in its Emergency Department, admits more than 17,000 children to its wards and delivers more than 320,000 occasions of service via its outpatients and community health programs.