The Alfred Hospital

The Alfred Hospital
The Alfred Hospital
Geography
Location	Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Coordinates	37°50′46″S 144°58′58″E / 37.8461°S 144.9827°E
Organisation
Care system	Public
Type	District General, Teaching
Affiliated university	Monash University
Services
Emergency department	Yes
Beds	638
Helipads
Helipad	(ICAO: YAFD)
History
Founded	1871; 155 years ago
Links
Website	www.alfred.org.au

The Alfred Hospital (also known as The Alfred or Alfred Hospital) is a tertiary hospital in Melbourne, Victoria. It is the second oldest hospital in Victoria after Melbourne Hospital which is still operating on its original site. The hospital is one of two major adult trauma centres in Victoria and houses the largest intensive care unit in Australia. In 2026, it was ranked as Australia's top hospital, as well as among the top 50 hospitals worldwide.

The Alfred Hospital is a major teaching hospital affiliated with Monash University. Alfred Health manages The Alfred Hospital along with Caulfield Hospital and Sandringham Hospital.

History

The "Hospital by the Yarra", founded in 1871, was named after Prince Alfred after he was shot in an unsuccessful assassination attempt while on a royal visit to Australia. The Royal Prince Alfred Hospital in Sydney, New South Wales is also named after the prince.

In May 1956, The Alfred became the first hospital in Australia to place a patient on cardiopulmonary bypass during cardiac surgery.

Services

The Alfred Hospital, part of Bayside Health, offers medical services including cancer treatment, asthma management, psychiatry, allergy care, cardiology, and neurosurgery. It houses an Intensive Care Unit and also provides facilities for adult cystic fibrosis services and an adult burns centre. The Alfred Hospital hosts both adult heart and lung transplantation services as well as a pediatric lung transplantation service.

The Alfred also collaborates with the Alfred Research Alliance, a consortium of medical research institutions located onsite.

Specialty units

Some of the specialty units within The Alfred Hospital include:

Adult Cystic Fibrosis Unit
Allergy, Asthma and Clinical Immunology – unique in Australia
Helen Macpherson Smith Burns Unit – unique in Victoria
Infectious Diseases Unit – includes state HIV/AIDS service
Lung Transplant Unit – second largest in the world
Psychiatry Unit accommodating 60 acute inpatients, including two APICSS (Alfred Psychiatry Intensive Care Statewide Service) beds
State Major Trauma Service – including road trauma centre
The Heart Centre – World Health Organization Centre for Research and Training
Largest Mechanical Circulatory Support Service in Australasia (Ventricular Assist Devices)
Largest Adult ECMO centre in Australia
Largest Hyperbaric unit in the Southern hemisphere
William Buckland Radiotherapy Centre – Specialists in Brachytherapy, Stereotactic Radiosurgery and General External Beam Therapy.
Interventional Radiology - Australia's largest uterine fibroid embolisation (UFE) program.

Associated facilities

Deakin University's Centre for Quality and Patient Safety Research

References

↑ Lowthian, J., Curtis, A., Straney, L., McKimm, A., Keogh, M. and Stripp, A. (2015), Redesigning emergency patient flow with timely quality care at the Alfred. Emergency Medicine Australasia, 27: 35–41. doi: 10.1111/1742-6723.12338
↑ "Bayside Health : About The Alfred". www.alfred.org.au. Archived from the original on 29 August 2007.
↑ Newsweek (25 February 2026). "World's Best Hospitals 2026 - Australia". Newsweek. Retrieved 2 September 2026.
↑ "Alfred campus". Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences. Retrieved 22 July 2025.
↑ "Our hospitals". Alfred Health. Retrieved 15 July 2021.
↑ Mawdsley OAM, Dr Allan (9 January 2025). "John Blair (1834-1887)". Medical Society of Victoria. Retrieved 1 August 2026.
↑ Robertson, M (1973). "Open-Heart Surgery in Australia: Some aspects of the beginnings and the present position". The Journal of ExtraCorporeal Technology. 5 (1). doi:10.1051/ject/1973051006. ISSN 0022-1058. Cardiac surgery under hypothermia has been in use in Australia for such cases as pulmonary valvotomy and repair of atrial septal defects for two years when Australia's first cardio-pulmonary bypass was carried out in May 1956 at the Alfred Hospital, Melbourne. The operation was carried out by Sir James Officer-Brown, on a small child with total anomalous venous drainage.
↑ "Alfred Health". www.deakin.edu.au. Retrieved 15 July 2021.

[1] Lowthian, J., Curtis, A., Straney, L., McKimm, A., Keogh, M. and Stripp, A. (2015), Redesigning emergency patient flow with timely quality care at the Alfred. Emergency Medicine Australasia, 27: 35–41. doi: 10.1111/1742-6723.12338

[2] "Bayside Health : About The Alfred". www.alfred.org.au. Archived from the original on 29 August 2007.

[3] Newsweek (25 February 2026). "World's Best Hospitals 2026 - Australia". Newsweek. Retrieved 2 September 2026.

[4] "Alfred campus". Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences. Retrieved 22 July 2025.

[5] "Our hospitals". Alfred Health. Retrieved 15 July 2021.

[6] Mawdsley OAM, Dr Allan (9 January 2025). "John Blair (1834-1887)". Medical Society of Victoria. Retrieved 1 August 2026.

[7] Robertson, M (1973). "Open-Heart Surgery in Australia: Some aspects of the beginnings and the present position". The Journal of ExtraCorporeal Technology. 5 (1). doi:10.1051/ject/1973051006. ISSN 0022-1058. Cardiac surgery under hypothermia has been in use in Australia for such cases as pulmonary valvotomy and repair of atrial septal defects for two years when Australia's first cardio-pulmonary bypass was carried out in May 1956 at the Alfred Hospital, Melbourne. The operation was carried out by Sir James Officer-Brown, on a small child with total anomalous venous drainage.

[8] "Alfred Health". www.deakin.edu.au. Retrieved 15 July 2021.