6th April 2011 marked the 35th anniversary of Flinders Medical Centre (FMC) since the first patient was admitted to our hospital. Since then, the FMC has developed an outstanding reputation for patient care, teaching and research.

FMC was the first hospital in South Australia to provide a fully integrated service for people of all ages. It was also the first medical school and teaching hospital in Australia to be planned and built as on institution.

FMC employs about 4,000 staff and is supported by over 600 volunteers – the largest volunteer service in a public hospital in South Australia. We provide services to people across Australia, from Darwin in the Northern Territory to Mount Gambier in South Australia’s south east.

There were almost 60,000 presentations to our around-the-clock Emergency Department in the last financial year. FMC is also home to the South Australian Eye Bank and the South Australian and Northern Territory Liver Transplant Unit.

As an institution we provide almost 350,000 outpatient consultations each year and we are the major referral centre in the southern suburbs which admits more than 55,000 patients each year.

Aside from the statistics, it is the people at FMC which make the hospital such a special place to work. The staff and volunteers at FMC have made the hospital the wonderful institution it is today.

Some of the FMC's achievements have included:

1982 – South Australia’s first IVF baby.

1982 – First Eye Bank in Australia.

1986 – First cochlear implant in Australia.

1990 – South Australia’s first helipad for emergency patients.

1993 – First South Australian Hospital @ Home service.

1994 – First hospital in Australia to become a member of the World Health Organisation Health Promoting Hospital Network.

1997 – First hospital in South Australia to create a major Arts in Health program.

2004 – Redesigning Care initiative began.

2005 – Fundraising campaign to build the Flinders Centre for Innovation in Cancer was launched.

2006 – State of the art Margaret Tobin Centre was complete.

2006 – A $145 million, 10-year rebuilding plan of the hospital was announced, including expansion of the Intensive and Critical Care Unit and the FMC Emergency Department.

2007 – Variety Children’s Centre opens.

2008 – FMC Redevelopment project commences.

2008 – FMC cardiac team performed the first catheter based heart valve replacement of its kind in Australia.

2008 – The 20,000th record of a human corneal transplant was entered into the Australian Corneal Graft Registry at FMC.

2009 – Cardiac Care Unit and New South Wing building opens as part of the $163 million FMC redevelopment project.

2009 – Deep Brain Stimulation surgery performed for the first time in South Australia to help improve the symptoms of people with Parkinson’s disease and other movement disorders.

2010 – Cycling legend Lance Armstrong visits the site of the $27 million Flinders Centre for Innovation in Cancer to announce that the research wing will be called the LIVESTRONG Cancer Research Centre.

2011 – New Acute Medical Unit opens.

For information about ways in which you can help the Flinders Medical Centre please click here.