Thanks to the generosity of the Good Friday Appeal community, equipment vital to great patient care is being upgraded across The Royal Children’s Hospital. With the most advanced equipment, the RCH can continue to provide the best diagnosis and treatment for some of the sickest children in Victoria and beyond.

More than 25 different types of equipment will be bought, including state of the art operating tables for trauma surgery, bedside monitors for critically ill children in the Intensive Care Unit and a new suite of defibrillators to be used across the hospital.

Other equipment that will be bought includes:

• A fibre-optic endoscope, which has a light and tiny camera at the end, allowing doctors to diagnose and treat gastrointestinal conditions.

• A halo retractor system for trauma brain surgery, which is an essential piece of equipment for operations on the brain. The halo retractor system will be used to gently hold portions of the brain in place and gives surgeons greater access to perform complex procedures.

• A portable video x-ray machine to give surgeons performing delicate hand and foot operations the ability to more easily find fractures and defects in the bones they are trying to repair.

Go behind the scenes in the Neurosurgery Theatre with Alison Wray, Director of Neurosurgery

Funds from the 2021 Good Friday Appeal have helped purchase a probe that attaches to the microscope used in brain surgery to help surgeons see around corners.