[3] It is owned and operated by UnitingCare Health, part of the Uniting Church in Australia.

The hospital is named after Reverend John Wesley, an important clergyman of the Church of England in the 18th century.

[4] The hospital is well known for its 'Kim Walters Choices Program' which supports men, women and their families who have been diagnosed with breast or gynecological cancer.

St Helen's Hospital was opened in 1896; its development was led by prominent local surgeon Dr E Sandford Jackson.

Construction commenced in 1975 and the Wesley Hospital received its first patients by ambulance convoy from St Helen's on 1 March 1977.