Country Kids' Health Care Centre to Expand

Manly's Royal Far West will start work on a new $35 million centre to replace the Elsie Hill building in Wentworth St in February next year. 

The new Centre for Child Health and Learning will be next door to Drummond House

The  move into the 21st-century is thanks to a $10 million Federal Government grant which added to an existing $10 million grant from the State Government,  means the children’s health care organisation can expand its reach way beyond the 3000 children it currently supports each year. 

Key to the expansion will be a new Centre for Child Health and Learning that will function as a purpose-built  technology hub.

The Elsie Hill building will be pulled down

The new $35 million centre will be built on the site of the existing Elsie Hill building in Wentworth St, which will be pulled down.  Work on the six-storey building will start in February next year, and is expected to take about 18 months.  

What sets Royal Far West apart is the community it serves - country kids who live in regional and remote Australia and don’t have access to health services that we take for granted. That includes treatments for problems such as speech and reading difficulties and behavioural and psychological concerns, as well as more traditional medical care. And while some consultations do need to be hands-on, many can take place remotely. 

​Royal Far West has been providing ’Telecare for Kids’ for some time, but the new centre will increase its online reach five times - to 15,000 children, and their families, each year. 

No announcement has been made yet regarding future plans for the existing site on the corner of Wentworth Street  and South Steyne where the charity will continue to operate until the new facility is opened.

---