ST GEORGE Hospital has abandoned a plan to convert historic Primrose House at Dolls Point for a satellite dialysis unit.
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The building will instead remain as administration offices for South Eastern Sydney Local Health District.
Health Minister Jillian Skinner revealed the plan last year to use Primrose House as a location where patients with kidney disease could undergo dialysis in a non-hospital setting under nursing supervision.
Mrs Skinner said the move would enable refurbishment of St George Hospital's dialysis unit to a 15-bed inpatient unit.
St George and Sutherland hospitals' director of operations Cath Whitehurst said this week Primrose House was no longer being considered for this purpose after it was found renovations "would not be cost-effective".
"Hospital management is considering other options for the location of a renal satellite unit," she said.
Ms Whitehurst said there was no timeline for the refurbishment of the dialysis unit as the hospital's redevelopment took priority.
"In June this year, the NSW government announced the start of major redevelopments at St George and Sutherland hospitals, totalling in excess of $300 million and our focus is now on stage two planning for the redevelopment," she said.
HISTORIC BUILDING
Scarborough House, as it was originally known, was built as a hotel in the early 1890s.
It was one of the first buildings in the district to be lit by electricity and had every other available ‘‘mod con’’.
When the hotel failed, the building became a home for several wealthy tenants.
During World War I, it was a Red Cross convalescent hospital and was later acquired by Dr Barnardo’s Homes to house orphans and abandoned children from England.
St George District Hospital purchased the building in 1936 and it was renamed Primrose House after hospital chairman Herman B. Primrose, a Kogarah solicitor.
It was a convalescent and rehabilitation centre until the mid-1990s when it became administration offices.
