Originally established in 1897 as a cottage hospital serving Queenstown, it was reconstituted as a District Hospital on 6 March 1946 (the Order-in-Council was not published in the Tasmanian Government Gazette). On 16 July 1968 (SR1968/113) it was renamed Lyell District Hospital and its services were exoanded to provide for the Queenstown, Gormanston and Strahan municipalities. It began to be called West Coast District Hospital c.1972 but the name was not formally changed until 27 September 1983 (SR1983/190).~