Send flowers to Warrnambool Base Hospital

Warrnambool Base Hospital is the public hospital for Victoria's south-west, run by South West Healthcare. It stands on Ryot Street, Warrnambool VIC 3280, a few blocks north of the main street, and traces its history to the Warrnambool Hospital and Benevolent Asylum of 1854; the first stage of a 115 million dollar redevelopment opened in 2011 under the Base Hospital name, and the emergency department on Ryot Street runs around the clock. A florist in Warrnambool makes up your flowers and delivers them by hand; to a hospital we never promise a delivery time, but a weekday morning order usually arrives that afternoon.

Visiting hours at the Base

South West Healthcare publishes visiting hours of 9am to 7pm. Florists deliver inside that window and leave the bouquet with reception or the ward clerk, who takes it to the bed. Write the patient's full name as admitted, "Warrnambool Base Hospital", the ward and a bed or room number if you know it. Without a ward the flowers wait at the desk; without a full name they may never find the right bed in a hospital that serves everyone from Port Fairy to Terang.

Which wards take flowers

The hospital does not publish a flower policy, so ask the ward when you ring to check the patient is still there. The usual Australian public hospital rules apply as a guide: no fresh flowers in intensive care or the special care nursery, none for oncology and chemotherapy patients, and a small arrangement generally accepted on medical, surgical and maternity wards, more readily in a single room than a four-bed bay. If the answer is no, the home address in Dennington, Warrnambool East, Koroit or Allansford is the better one, and a short public stay is often over before a second attempt anyway.

Public or private: check the hospital

Warrnambool has two hospitals a kilometre and a half apart. The Base on Ryot Street is public; St John of God Warrnambool on Botanic Road is private. People in the same family are sometimes in different ones in the same week, so confirm which before you order; a bouquet sent to the wrong hospital is a second delivery fee at best.

Flowers for a heated ward by the sea

The wards are warm and the air dry, so choose sturdy stems: gerberas, alstroemeria, chrysanthemums, roses and native bunches with banksia, leucadendron and waxflower. A compact posy in a jar or a hand-tied bouquet with a water reservoir needs no vase and stays upright on a locker. Leave lilies and hyacinths out of a shared room for their scent, and keep potted plants for the house. For a new baby on the maternity ward, a small posy is better than a large bouquet.

When to order

Same-day delivery is available Monday to Saturday for orders placed before 2pm on a weekday or 10am on a Saturday, Victorian time, though to a hospital same day is never guaranteed, and there is no Sunday delivery. Warrnambool has only a handful of florists, so a morning order gives the best chance of reaching the ward before the 7pm close of visiting. Add your mobile number; if the patient has been discharged, the florist can call and redirect the bouquet to the home for a second delivery fee. Bouquets start at AUD 75; you see the delivery charge at checkout.

Did you know? Warrnambool Base Hospital traces its history to the Warrnambool Hospital and Benevolent Asylum of 1854; stage 1 of a 115 million dollar redevelopment opened in 2011.