By Charlene Macaulay
Meet the two people who will head up Werribee Mercy Hospital’s new intensive care unit.
Mainak Majumdar has been appointed medical director and Joanne Pickford is the new nurse unit manager for the ICU, which is open in stages from this month.
Dr Majumdar, who joined the Werribee Mercy team in April, is a foundation fellow of the College of Intensive Care Medicine of Australia and New Zealand and has an extensive background in emergency medicine, retrieval medicine and intensive care.
“This is an exciting opportunity to set up an intensive care service in Melbourne’s fastest-growing area that is currently under served in terms of access to acute health care,” Dr Majumdar said.
“To be able to develop a service from scratch and be able to customise it to the region’s health needs in a supportive healthcare service is an absolute privilege.”
Ms Pickford, who lives in Wyndham and has more than 24 years’ nursing experience in Australia and overseas, said she was honoured by her appointment.
Ms Pickford holds a number of postgraduate qualifications in intensive care, haematology and transfusion practices.
“I’m hoping to build a team that is motivated, dedicated and passionate in providing the best standards of care for the local community,” she said.
The eight-bed ICU is part of a $93 million hospital upgrade that also includes 56 inpatient beds, six additional operating theatres, a new central sterile department and a multi-storey carpark.
The expansion has been funded through $85 million from the state government, $6 million from Mercy Health and $2 million from the Mercy Health Foundation/Werribee Hospital Foundation.
