In 1986 the NSW Labor Government led by Premier Neville Wran decided to build a new hospital on a large plot of land just opposite the (then) new Shellharbour Square shopping centre.
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The hospital has provided broad medical services to the growing population around Shellharbour city over the past 27 years.
In a new outlook for Shellharbour Hospital, it will become a major metropolitan hospital providing an expanded range of secondary acute medical services to the southern Illawarra region.
This major upgrade of Shellharbour Hospital could cost up to $250 million.
We won’t yet know the final investment needed by the NSW Government until after the Illawarra Shoalhaven Local Health District completes its consultations with clinicians and an Asset Management Plan. This should be completed shortly.
But we do know what the local health district has in mind because the expansion of services has been outlined in the Health Care Services Plan for the next decade and was released late last year.
The new health care services plan says that Shellharbour Hospital can become a regional rehabilitation hub; provide enhanced acute geriatric care for our elderly; enhanced diagnostic capability; expanded gastroenterological, neurology, ear, nose and throat, ophthalmology and urology services.
The plan also proposes additional paediatric, child and family protection services.
This all means patients living in my electorate and the surrounding southern Illawarra will get access to a range of additional health care services.
It’ll mean less travel to other hospitals and health professionals.
It’ll mean more doctors and nurses.
It’ll mean more jobs for auxiliary staff, such as cooks, cleaners, and wards people.
It’ll mean better, improved building facilities.
I met with the Chairman of the Illawarra Shoalhaven Local Health District, Professor Denis King to discuss the new health care services plan and its vision for Shellharbour Hospital.
I am very pleased with the plan and what it means for the local communities in my electorate and the southern Illawarra region.
I know that providing health services is one of the most expensive calls on the state budget.
Providing up to $250 million in new investment to upgrade Shellharbour Hospital will be no small task and it may take several years to be completed.
But a start must be made in the NSW Government’s 2013-14 Budget to be handed down in June.
This week I started a community campaign in my electorate to ensure the Minister for Health, Jillian Skinner MP, is aware of the strength of feeling for the need to upgrade Shellharbour Hospital in line with the vision outlined in the health care services plan.
I will keep the pressure on the Minister to deliver.
Anna Watson is the State Member for Shellharbour.