GVH Shepparton Hospital’s Special Care Nursery (SCN) responds to a critical need for specialist neonatal facilities, delivering metropolitan-standard services to a regional community with rising birthrates. The new 10-cot SCN provides acute medical care for sick and premature babies and their families.
Previously, families including marginalized groups travelled for hours for critical care, far from other family members and local support networks at an incredibly stressful time.
Designed in close collaboration with the GVH team and incorporating biophilic principles, SCN adaptively reuses inefficient ward space and enables the introduction of family-focused care. Working within an internalized space required clever spatial planning and efficiencies to deliver the complex brief. Examples include: each bay features in-built family seating, medication fridge, nappy store and moveable recliners. Custom bench joinery optimises clinicians’ workflow, accommodating medication and formula prep one side and family- patient caregiving opposite.
