New Cancer Centre of Excellence

Adelaide, SOUTH AUSTRALIA – South Australians living with cancer will soon have increased access to integrated cancer care, precision medicine tools and global clinical trials, thanks to the development of a world-class $80 million cancer centre at St Andrew’s Hospital, Adelaide.

The new facility results from a partnership between St Andrew’s Hospital, GenesisCare, the largest provider of integrated cancer care in South Australia, Dr Jones & Partners Medical Imaging and Cambridge Medical Property.

The centre will be home to the St Andrew’s Breast Cancer Centre of Excellence, offering patients across Adelaide and South Australia access to advanced diagnostics services, radiation oncology, surgical and medical oncology consulting, allied health, and clinical trials.

Today Uncle Tamaru, Kaurna Elder; Lucy Hood MP, Member for Adelaide; and key partnership members gathered to celebrate a significant development milestone, the “topping out” of the new facility, set to open at the beginning of 2023.

Chief Executive Officer of St Andrew’s Hospital, Stephen Walker, said the new centre of excellence will act as an extension of St Andrew’s Private Hospital and will complement the existing cancer surgical and medical oncology services provided on campus. “St Andrew’s breast care clinic is one of the busiest in South Australia and includes some of the best surgeons and nurses in the state, providing breast imaging, diagnosis and subsequent treatment for more than 700 patients each year."

“This new facility will draw on our long track record of delivering the best possible care for patients with breast cancer and brings together all of the services on one campus to enhance the patient experience,” said Mr Walker. “We are also incredibly proud of the fact that the new precinct has a 6 Star Green Star building rating which represents world leadership in environmentally sustainable building practices.”

GenesisCare’s General Manager in South Australia, Duy Tran, said: “As the largest provider of radiation oncology in South Australia, GenesisCare is delighted to strengthen our long-standing partnership with St Andrew’s Hospital to provide South Australians access to world-class integrated cancer care. The new integrated cancer centre will provide patients access to leading sub-specialised doctors across all tumour streams, as well as holistic support throughout all stages of their treatment journey. GenesisCare has a long history of providing high quality radiation oncology services to South Australian cancer patients, spanning more than 30 years, and we are excited to be now entering our next phase of growth and expansion into integrated cancer care.”

Dr Jones & Partners Medical Imaging CEO, Professor Susan O’Neil said: “We are passionate about delivering super specialised radiology services in oncology and women’s health. To be able to do this in a purpose-built centre alongside likeminded healthcare providers enables us to provide exemplary patient care.”

Local medical property developer and builder, James Arsenikakis, said the topping out was historic as the state-of-the-art facility represents the cutting edge of medical construction, including two radiation therapy bunkers suspended on the building’s second level in an Australian-first and with a 6-Star NABERS rating.

“Patient experience and wellbeing are integral and by suspending the two cumulative 1800-tonne bunkers on the second level we have unlocked more space for amenity and ensured patients are not treated in the depths of a hospital basement. We achieved this Australian-first by engaging the best engineers and physicists in collaboration with GenesisCare and by using steel to insulate instead of concrete. The use of steel in lieu of concrete has also lowered the emissions profile during construction. We wanted a facility that is sympathetic to the adjacent Adelaide Park Lands setting and so a 6 Star NABERS rating is important. The medical industry is centered on caring for people and so it naturally follows that this should extend to our environment too,” said Mr Arsenikakis.