World class Westmead Dermatology department sheds new skin in relocation
The Dermatology department at Westmead Hospital has officially moved to a new location within the hospital from upstairs to the ground floor.
It’s now positioned at the main entrance of the hospital for easy accessibility.
Westmead Hospital’s head of dermatology, Professor Pablo Fernandez-Peñas, said the renovated unit boasts new world-first technology, a much larger space and therefore better care for patients.
“It has been many years of planning and through COVID-19 there was a lot of interruption, but I feel relaxed that after all these years we have this place for patients to come,” he said.
The new department is a custom build design with rooms for the nurses to work with the patients for photography and photo therapy, procedural rooms, a pathology area, plus seven clinics.
The relocation also offers a big move forward for research and innovation within the Dermatology unit with Professor Pablo saying, “we have larger rooms for clinical trials and this will optimise how we see patients.”
There’s a lot of technology here and having differentiated areas for each which will help us achieve our research goals.”
Professor Pablo
Just one of the ground-breaking pieces of technology available to patients is a whole body 3D imaging system (the VECTRA WB360) which was funded by the Australian Cancer Research Foundation.
Professor Pablo said the imaging system is designed specifically to photograph the entire skin surface in macro quality resolution with a single capture.
“We are one of the first hospitals in the world to have the technology and we’re very excited to have a home for this device,” he said.
Charmaine Peras, dermatology clinical nurse consultant, is thrilled with the outcome of the move expressing how amazing the new custom build is.
“It’s a purpose built facility so we have dedicated spots for everything we need, so there’s a better flow for the clinical team, especially for the nursing team,” said Charmaine.
Charmaine worked with the re-development team to ensure the new rooms are safe, workable and above all, comfortable.
“They have a big space to easily fit the beds in and out, and in the procedure space, we’ve got a bigger area to perform our surgeries, so it’s much better for patients and staff alike,” she said.
“We’re very open for people to see us as soon as they walk into the hospital on the right hand side!”
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