Mersey Community Hospital
Welcome to the Mersey Community Hospital website.
The Mersey is a 100 bed facility offering general and specialist health services to the region including:
- 24 hr Emergency Department
- Paediatrics
- High Dependency Unit
- Special Care Nursery
- General Surgery
- Oncology
- Orthopaedic Surgery
- Ophthalmology
- ENT Surgery
- Dental
- Day procedures
- Sleep Investigation Studies
- General Medicine
- Cardiac Rehabilitation
- Obstetrics and Gynaecology
- Contracted on-site Radiology
- Antenatal Classes
- Contracted on-site Pathology
- Specialist Clinics
- Pharmacy
- Birthing Suites
- Allied Health Services
In 2007/08 there were 22,853 presentations to the Department of Emergency, 6,836 Inpatient admissions, 43,269 Outpatient visits and 4,130 operations performed at the hospital.
The Mersey is fully accredited by the Australian Council on Healthcare Standards until 2010. We have a comprehensive undergraduate and graduate clinical training program and have close ties with the University of Tasmania, through the Rural Clinical School, as well as TAFE Tasmania.
We currently have a dedicated team of more than 300 full time equivalent staff who are committed to providing quality healthcare services to our community. The Mersey forms an integral part of the North West Area Health Service and we work closely with other hospitals and primary health services to meet the needs of patients across the region.
A hospital was first opened at Latrobe in 1889 called the Devon Cottage Hospital. It relocated to a larger site in 1903 and was renamed the Devon Public Hospital. In 1961 the Mersey General Hospital was opened at the current site and was later named the Mersey Community Hospital. For the past 120 years the hospital at Latrobe has enjoyed very strong staff and community support. In 2008 Governments at all levels responded to this support by establishing ownership and operational arrangements unique to Australia.
The Mersey is currently the only hospital in the country to be owned and funded by the Australian Government, and by arrangement it is operated by the Tasmanian Government. Under this agreement the Mersey has undergone a major refurbishment, had a substantial amount of new equipment purchased and additional medical and nursing staff recruited.
The Mersey is highly regarded for its delivery of timely, safe and high quality services and we are committed to improving and extending those services at every available opportunity.