Katherine District Hospital is a district public

hospital A hospital is a healthcare institution providing patient treatment with specialized Medical Science, health science and auxiliary healthcare staff and medical equipment. The best-known type of hospital is the general hospital, which typically ...

servicing the

Katherine Region The Katherine Region, known as "Big River Country", is one of five major regions in the Northern Territory, Australia. It is situated just below the tropical Top End. The Katherine region covers an area of , and has a population of 18,646, maki ...

in the

Northern Territory The Northern Territory (abbreviated as NT; known formally as the Northern Territory of Australia and informally as the Territory) is an states and territories of Australia, Australian internal territory in the central and central-northern regi ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

. It is located from the centre of town on the banks of the

Katherine River Katherine River is located in the Northern Territory, Australia. Its headwaters are in Nitmiluk National Park, it flows through the town of Katherine, Northern Territory, Katherine, and is a major tributary of the Daly River (Northern Territory), ...

, overlooking Knott's Crossing. It services an area of . Around 85% percent of its patients are Aboriginal people, many from some of the most remote communities in Australia. It is operated by the

Northern Territory Government The Northern Territory Government is the executive branch of the Northern Territory. The Government of Northern Territory was formed in 1978 with the granting of self-government to the Territory. The Northern Territory is a territory of the Co ...

Department of Health. The hospital has twice been evacuated due to water inundation during the floods in

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for Lunar water, frozen water, in soil i ...

and 2006, leading to pressure from the

Katherine Town Council The Katherine Town Council is a local government area in the Northern Territory, established on 3 March 1978. It is situated south of Darwin, and covers an area of . The Town of Katherine is an established residential township with a commerc ...

on the Territory Government to relocate the hospital to higher ground, at an estimated cost of $50 million.

Services

The hospital provides a 24-hour

emergency department An emergency department (ED), also known as an accident and emergency department (A&E), emergency room (ER), emergency ward (EW) or casualty department, is a medical treatment facility specializing in emergency medicine, the Acute (medicine), ...

as well as general medical and surgical wards, an operating theatre, a maternity ward, 18 bed

children's ward ''Children's Ward'' (retitled ''The Ward'' from 1995 to 1998) is a British children's television drama series produced by Granada Television and broadcast on the ITV network as part of its '' Children's ITV'' strand on weekday afternoons. It ai ...

pathology Pathology is the study of disease. The word ''pathology'' also refers to the study of disease in general, incorporating a wide range of biology research fields and medical practices. However, when used in the context of modern medical treatme ...

laboratory, a

radiography Radiography is an imaging technology, imaging technique using X-rays, gamma rays, or similar ionizing radiation and non-ionizing radiation to view the internal form of an object. Applications of radiography include medical ("diagnostic" radiog ...

department equipped to perform basic x-ray, ultrasound, CT scans and a

renal In humans, the kidneys are two reddish-brown bean-shaped blood-filtering organs that are a multilobar, multipapillary form of mammalian kidneys, usually without signs of external lobulation. They are located on the left and right in the retrop ...

unit. Pharmacy and specialized outpatient services are also accessible. The renal dialysis unit open in May 2000, providing an option for ongoing treatment for kidney disease. The facility accommodates the local Jawoyn people by providing local care which was previously only available in Darwin, forcing patients to relocate. The hospital employs Aboriginal liaison and support officers and is regularly visit by specialists from Darwin. The Northern Territory Aeromedical Service offers patient retrieval and transfer to

Royal Darwin Hospital The Royal Darwin Hospital (RDH) is a 360-bed Australian teaching hospital located in Tiwi, Northern Territory, Tiwi, a northern suburb of Darwin, Northern Territory, Darwin, Northern Territory. It is part of the Top End Health Service, which co ...

, the region's

tertiary Tertiary (from Latin, meaning 'third' or 'of the third degree/order..') may refer to: * Tertiary period, an obsolete geologic period spanning from 66 to 2.6 million years ago * Tertiary (chemistry), a term describing bonding patterns in organic ch ...

referral hospital from a base in Katherine. The hospital maintains a small academic library.

Statistics

In the 2011-2012 financial year, Katherine District Hospital conducted 440 elective surgeries and handled 14,311 Emergency Department presentations. Waiting times in the emergency department were varied from the national average, with shorter waits for urgent treatments according to the Australian Government's My Hospital website with 69% of patients treated with 30 minutes. Elective surgeries were not compared, but the median waiting time for urgent cases was 15 days.

References

{{Authority control Hospitals in the Northern Territory Katherine, Northern Territory