Jillian Skinner's first visit to Shellharbour Hospital as Health Minister failed to produce any new funding for the facility yesterday.
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Rather, Ms Skinner said the visit was an opportunity to hear from clinicians on how to best deliver health services to the people of the region.
Ms Skinner, who was opposition health spokeswoman for 16 years, met clinicians and patients at Shellharbour Hospital's upgraded renal unit. However, it was some Aboriginal artwork by local artists Lorraine Brown and Narelle Thomas that caught her eye.
The art works decorating the $4.5 million renal unit were created to encourage Aboriginal people to engage with the hospital and make it a more welcoming place for the Koori community.
However, a visit without a funding announcement failed to impress Shellharbour MP Anna Watson. She said the minister now had a comprehensive plan for the expansion of Shellharbour Hospital, provided by the Illawarra Shoalhaven Local Health District.
"It's time for the minister to put funding on the table," Ms Watson said.
Ms Skinner said she had recently received plans from each of the state's eight local health districts and they were being collated. She said each plan was approximately 500 pages.
"As you can see, I have a lot of reading to do and hope to do that over the summer ... you can't make decisions in isolation," she said.
While her visit to Shoalhaven Hospital was also "funding free", her one announcement there had the potential for some controversy.
Ms Skinner said that after recent discussions with NSW Trade and Investment, NSW Health now had an "in-principle agreement" to acquire the remaining portions of the historic Nowra Park, which some have argued is the oldest proclaimed park in NSW. The acquisition would enable the creation of a health precinct near the hospital and the $34.8 million Shoalhaven Regional Cancer Care Centre, now under construction.
"The acquisition will future-proof Shoalhaven Hospital's campus for potential expansion, as well as guide the development of health infrastructure in the vicinity of the hospital," Ms Skinner said.
"This will allow detailed planning to be undertaken to ensure the long-term viability of the site and hospital expansion activities adjacent to the existing facilities."
Initial discussions have begun with the University of Wollongong regarding the creation of a health and education precinct on the Shoalhaven Hospital campus.
The agreement means that the land cannot be sold to a third party, and would be available when future expansion is required.
