Calvary Connery Centre opens its doors

Calvary’s new $4.75 million state-of-the-art Connery Centre welcomes its first oncology patients today.

Calvary SA Regional CEO Sharon Kendall said this was a long awaited and important milestone to realise an enhanced oncology service with capacity to expand over time to support a growing region.

What is the Calvary Connery Centre?

The new centre, which represents the only one of its kind between Calvary North Adelaide Hospital and the Barossa, includes 18 oncology chairs and three treatment rooms specially designed and equipped to deliver chemotherapy, day haematology and other oncology treatments. This allows Calvary to significantly increase upon its existing 13 chairs at its Central Districts Hospital into the future.

The three treatment rooms are for patients requiring isolation and treatment concurrently. There is also a clinical trials unit directly supported with treatment rooms and consulting suites, a centralised nursing station to imrpove patient visibility and workflows, and ten consulting rooms.

“The same, friendly oncology staff from Calvary Central Districts are here today bright and early to welcome the first patients into our new Calvary Connery Centre,” Ms Kendall said.

“Calvary is committed to supporting the people of the greater northern region of South Australia, and this replaces our existing service at Calvary Central Districts with a continued focus on providing care and support to meet community needs.”

“The centre also includes a family room, offering a patient’s loved ones with a private space for conversations, waiting for a relative complete treatment, or just having some time away from the clinical floor.”

The first patient

Patient Peta Matthews, who is currently receiving treatment for a breast cancer diagnosis, was greeted by staff at the Connery Centre with a round of applause before being seated in Chair 1 at 8:30am this morning.

“We’ve still got the same staff and they are amazing and they make it what it is, but this is a really lovely new space, the colours are beautiful and relaxing.”

“The old place was a little bit squished and there was a feeling you were just surrounded by sick people, because we all are, but this space has so much more extra room and it makes such a difference when you want to have a private conversation.”

More about the Connery Centre

The Connery Centre is part of the Playford Health Hub, which will soon be home to Calvary’s key partners in care including Clinpath Pathology, Radiology SA, and GenesisCare.

Last month, Calvary announced it was preparing to engage with a builder through an early contracter involvement (ECI) to progress the co-located private hospital as part of Stage 3 of Northwest Healthcare Properties’ Playford Health Hub.

“Calvary is excited to be the private healthcare provider at the Playford Health Hub and we are proud to be partnering with Northwest on the development of the private hospital,” Ms Kendall said.

“The Playford Health Hub creates a modern and co-located public and private health precinct to support a growing region expected to exceed 600,000 South Australians by 2026.”

The Calvary Connery Centre is located on John Rice Avenue, Elizabeth Vale.