The Royal Children's Hospital is a specialist paediatric hospital and provides a full range of clinical services, tertiary care and health promotion and prevention programs for children and adolescents. The hospital is the major specialist paediatric hospital in Victoria, and also cares for children from Tasmania and southern New South Wales and other states around Australia and overseas.

As the major paediatric hospital in Victoria, the Royal Children's Hospital provides clinical, academic and advocacy services for children and young people throughout the state. It is internationally recognised as a leading centre for research and education.

In its role as a leading paediatric teaching centre, the hospital has affiliations with the University of Melbourne and LaTrobe University and links with other universities in post graduate studies.

The Royal Children's Hospital has a strong commitment to research. The Murdoch Childrens Research Institute is based at the Royal Children's Hospital providing a bench to bedside process within our site.

Patients are referred to the Royal Children's Hospital from all over Australia and the Asia-Pacific rim countries.

The hospital was established in 1870 and has been located on its present site at Parkville in Melbourne, Australia since 1963. In 2006/2007 it treated approximately 35,000 in-patients, 190,000 children attended outpatient appointments and 60,000 children presented at our emergency department.

Some facts about The Royal Children's Hospital

• RCH clinicians and scientists first discovered that rotavirus is the cause of gastroenteritis
• RCH is the Australian National Centre for cardiac transplantation
• RCH is the leading centre for bone marrow and cord blood transplantation
• Australia's first gait laboratory for children is located at RCH
• World-wide changes in measles immunisation in children were initiated at RCH
• RCH leads Australian studies into childhood allergy
• World experts in paediatric anaesthetics work at RCH
• RCH provides Australia's most comprehensive care program for neonates
• RCH is internationally recognised for work on ethical and legal aspects of newborn care, especially the use of high technology
• RCH developed a video EEG monitoring system, which is now used internationally and has been integrated with the best epilepsy surgical program in Australia
• RCH is conducting a landmark longitudinal study of childhood asthma into adulthood

List of Specialities and Departments:

• Cardiopulmonary transplantation
• Circulatory support (VAD and ECMO)
• Minimally invasive techniques
• Reconstructive valve surgery
• General Gastroenterology
• Liver & Liver Transplant
• Cystic Fibrosis
• Nutrition
• Gastroscopy
• Colonoscopy
• Interventional endoscopy
• Change of Gastrostomy
• Balloon dilatation of strictures
• Oesophageal pH monitoring
• Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBS)
• Adolescent Gastroenterology