The fight to save Bulli Hospital's 24-hour emergency department will head to State Parliament today.
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One day after the Illawarra Shoalhaven Local Health District released plans to review the opening hours, members of the Save Bulli ED group will march to State Parliament to hear the Member for Keira Ryan Park debate the issue.
More than 10,000 people have signed a petition launched last year by Mr Park that called on the NSW government to urgently upgrade Bulli Hospital.
Mr Park has slammed the first draft of the Healthcare Services Plan for 2012-2022 claiming the community had been ignored.
"The local community will not sit by quietly and allow their hospital to be closed," he said.
"The community built this hospital, they will not sit by and let it be downgraded without a fight."
The draft report said there were 7109 emergency department presentations at Bulli in the 2011-12 financial year.
"This total volume appears too low for sustainable medical staffing and diagnostic capability 24 hours a day, seven days a week," it said.
A total of 89 per cent of these were triage categories four or five.
The health district's director of operations, planning and performance, Michelle Noort, said the present level of emergency care would remain at Bulli Hospital.
The only part under review was the overnight access.
"The data shows that between 10pm and 7am, Bulli averages about two people per night," she said.
"As a health district, the challenge is to see how best we can share our resources among all our residents."
However, Save Bulli ED Group convener Alison Fettell, who will be among those heading to Parliament House, said the report used flawed data.
"It claims that not enough people are turning up, but the data is distorted as it doesn't count the number of people who are turning up but are being diverted to Wollongong Hospital," she said.
"Bulli's emergency department has already been downgraded - with regular closures and ambulances being diverted - so it's hard to get a clear picture of demand.
"But with a 10 per cent growth in the northern Illawarra each year, we would argue that a 24-hour emergency department is absolutely warranted."