News

University Hospital Geelong’s Building B has officially been renamed the Youang Surgery Centre, with an event to recognise the change on Friday 30 September.

The name was selected by the Wadawurrung Traditional Owners Corporation, inspired by the building’s views of the iconic You Yangs across Corio Bay.  The name "You Yang" comes from the Wadawurrung language “Ude Youang”.

The site was formerly leased for the Geelong Private Hospital and since 2021 has been gradually recommissioned to support the pandemic response and more recently to increase Barwon Health’s surgical capacity.

In August, short stay surgical and medical beds opened, bringing overnight patients back to the site for the first time since the Geelong Private Hospital closed in 2018.

Refurbishments at the Youang Surgery Centre have added four new operating theatres, 13 specialist consulting rooms and 40 new beds.

The initial refurbishment of this facility was made possible by a Percy Baxter Trust donation of almost $350,000 to fund the purchase of 55 hospital beds and 100 mattresses, as well as $22 million funding from the State Government as part of a pandemic response plan.

Barwon Health chief executive Frances Diver said the Youang Surgery Centre was key part of responding to the need to “catch up” elective surgery.

“Recommissioning the building as the Youang Surgery Centre means we now have extra dedicated surgical and medical beds and theatres, which has a flow-on effect to create more capacity throughout the whole hospital,” she said.

“Activating the Youang Surgery Centre will provide for approximately 5500 theatre procedures and 10,000 outpatient appointments each year and will significantly improve access to services at the hospital.

“This is the first time overnight patients have been admitted to the Youang Surgery Centre since the site was occupied by the former Geelong Private Hospital, and it’s taken a lot of innovative planning to refurbish the building for this purpose.”

Caption: Barwon Health Chief Executive Frances Diver, Member for Geelong Christine Couzens and Wadawurrung Traditional Owner Ash Skinner.