Opposition health spokesman Walt Secord met Shellharbour MP Anna Watson, Keira MP Ryan Park and Labor candidate for Kiama Glenn Kolomeitz outside the ageing public hospital on Friday to make the election promise.

Mr Secord said the initial upgrade would include an expanded emergency department with up to 25 spaces, a new eight-bed emergency medical unit and a new day surgery unit with up to 15 spaces.

He said the funding would come from the $1.7 billion Labor had unlocked for health infrastructure as part of its infrastructure plan, A Better Way, and would be made available in its first term of government.

"We are making this commitment in response to the fact that this is a growing region, with high projected growth in the future," Mr Secord said. "We know that there are pressures on Shellharbour Hospital's emergency department already - where 30 per cent of people wait longer than four hours for treatment - and this will ease that. It will also take the pressure off the busy emergency department at Wollongong Hospital."

Ms Watson said Shellharbour residents had been fighting for many years for an upgrade to the hospital, which opened in 1986.

"This is great news for Shellharbour residents and for people right across the Illawarra because Shellharbour Hospital has been earmarked to be the hub hospital for the southern Illawarra region," she said.

"My Liberal opponent has put up petitions for different issues but petitions don't get hospitals built - money gets hospitals built.

"That's what Labor will deliver - and without privatising our electricity network."

However, Kiama MP Gareth Ward said he would continue to lobby for the full $250 million needed for the upgrade.

"This is just a half measure to placate the public," he said. "I'm going to continue to campaign for the full upgrade of Shellharbour Hospital in the lead-up to the election."

Mr Secord also visited Shoalhaven Hospital on Friday to announce that a Labor government would invest $5 million to deliver a second linear accelerator for that hospital's cancer care centre.

Mr Kolomeitz said the existing linear accelerator - which provides state-of-the-art radiation therapy treatment - was operating at 93 per cent capacity.

"An additional linear accelerator will ensure locals fighting cancer are treated faster and saved from travelling long distances," he said.

It matches a commitment made by the Baird government last month.