Flowers to a patient at Westmead Hospital

Westmead Hospital is the largest hospital in western Sydney and one of the largest in the country, with 958 beds on the corner of Hawkesbury Road and Darcy Road, Westmead NSW 2145, next to Westmead railway station and a short drive from Parramatta. It is run by the Western Sydney Local Health District, opened on 10 November 1978 and serves around 1.85 million people with everything from round-the-clock interventional cardiology and trauma to neurosurgery, neonatal care and the Crown Princess Mary Cancer Centre. The hospital treats patients aged 14 years and 9 months and over. A florist in the Parramatta and Westmead area arranges and delivers the flowers for us.

Three hospitals, one address

The Westmead health campus also holds The Children's Hospital at Westmead, which is a separate hospital for children run by the Sydney Children's Hospitals Network, and Westmead Private Hospital, run by Ramsay Health Care. A bouquet addressed simply to 'Westmead' can end up at the wrong front desk. Write the full hospital name, then the patient's full name, ward and bed number, and add a mobile number for a relative so the florist can redirect if needed.

Flowers on the wards at Westmead

The health district publishes no single flower rule, so each ward decides, and the only reliable answer comes from ringing the switchboard on (02) 8890 5555 and asking for the ward. As a general guide that applies to most Australian hospitals rather than a Westmead-specific policy, flowers are not taken into intensive care, coronary care, the burns unit, the bone marrow transplant and haematology wards or the cancer centre, and patients on infection precautions cannot have them. General medical, surgical, orthopaedic, maternity and rehabilitation wards usually say yes, sometimes with a request for no strong scent and no glass vase.

What to send to a Westmead ward

Choose a compact arrangement that holds its own water, in a box or jar, with low pollen and little scent: gerberas, roses, tulips, alstroemeria, chrysanthemums or a native bunch with waxflower. Avoid oriental lilies, hyacinths and potted plants. Keep it to a size that fits a bedside locker in a shared room.

If the patient is leaving

Stays at a tertiary hospital can be long or very short. If discharge is close, send the flowers to the home in Westmead, Parramatta, Blacktown or wherever the family lives; the florist delivers across western Sydney. For a patient transferred from a regional hospital, check that they have arrived and settled on a ward before ordering.

Cost and timing

Bouquets start at about AUD 75, and the delivery fee is shown at checkout. Same-day delivery is available Monday to Saturday for orders placed before 2pm on a weekday or 10am on a Saturday, Sydney time, though to a hospital same day is never guaranteed. Our florists deliver during the day and hand the bouquet to ward staff or the main reception.

Did you know? Westmead Hospital opened on 10 November 1978 and has 958 beds, serving a population of around 1.85 million in western Sydney.