Whitlam MP Stephen Jones and Cunningham MP Sharon Bird said every hospital in the Illawarra Shoalhaven Local Health District (ISLHD) would be worse off under the cuts for the period 2017 to 2020.

Wollongong Hospital will fare the worst, with $4.85 million in cuts; while Shellharbour will lose $872,000 in funding and Shoalhaven Hospital will have a shortfall of $1.7 million.

Smaller hospitals will also feel the pinch, with Port Kembla to lose out on $370,000; Bulli to face cuts of $220,000 and $50,000 taken from Kiama hospital.

The cuts – which Federal Health Minister Greg Hunt has denied – would hurt the region’s most sick and vulnerable Mr Jones said.

“The $11.5 million in cuts throughout the region is equivalent to funding for over 17,000 emergency department visits; 32 nurses; around 450 knee replacements and nearly 2000 births,” he said.

“At a time when our population is rising, and ageing, we need to be investing more into our hospitals, not cutting funding to them.

“We welcome this week’s visit by Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, but ask him next time to not drive past the hospital, to come inside and see what needs to be done.”

Ms Bird said the cuts come on top of the government’s Medicare rebate freeze, making it harder for people to afford specialists and GPs.

“Rising out-of-pocket costs for doctors is starting to bite, with residents having to make tough decisions on whether they can afford to follow up and see a specialist,” she said. “The Federal government has got its priorities wrong – announcing tax cuts to big business while cutting funding to hospitals and health care.”

Community activist Fay Campbell was angered by the cuts. “For too long this region has been treated like a political football,” she said. “The community continually fights and raises funds for improvements to services and equipment at our hospitals – and so I find these cuts absolutely appalling.” 

However a spokesman for Minister Hunt said the Federal government had delivered “record hospital funding” for the Illawarra.

“Since Labor’s last year (2012-13), Commonwealth funding for the ISLHD has almost doubled, growing by 96 per cent,” he said.

“In 2012-13 Labor only provided $134 million to the district, this compares to $264 million the Coalition funded in 2016-17.

“And this funding will increase even more under the new long-term agreement, with an additional $9 billion for NSW hospitals.”

The spokesman said the funding would deliver additional services, and staff, to patients across the region.