It took just five days to build an additional intensive care unit at Wollongong Hospital, as management rushed to prepare for the COVID-19 threat.
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As part of the pandemic planning process Bernie O'Brien, COVID-19 ICU nurse unit manager, said the hospital has had to increase its ICU bed capacity from 18 to 46 beds - and there's room to increase that further if required.
In a first look at the new set-up, released in a video by the Illawarra Shoalhaven Local Health District, senior staff talk about the process - which has been quick, efficient and has required assistance from all staff members.
Ms O'Brien said ICU two - which was built in just five days - was an area where non-COVID patients would be cared for, if there was a large influx of COVID patients into ICU one.
Additionally ICU three - a 20-bed unit - was also set up and ready to take patients.
"The process of mobilising to expand our capacity has been a huge feat and it's been done within a very short timeframe," she said.
In just days staff had to come together to get the right equipment and services required to run an ICU, said Kimberley Flemming, a senior registered nurse who's part of the COVID-19 ICU planning team.
"We had to work out everything from staplers to ventilators to where we're going to be getting furniture," she said.
"We had to build a pharmacy; we had to make sure that we had all the services - waste management, linen services.
"We had for example no bins, we had no beds. We just had to go from scratch but we managed and we managed by working with everybody."
Additional staff have been recruited, while existing staff have also been deployed back into the ICU from various areas throughout Wollongong Hospital .
ICU head of department, Dr Alan Davey-Quinn, said government restrictions on elective surgery had allowed staff to focus on preparing for the pandemic.
While restrictions have started to ease - with more elective surgery now occurring at Shellharbour Hospital, Wollongong's number one priority remained COVID preparedness.
"We've managed to incorporate a lot of the theatre staff because we've ramped down the elective surgery and that's involved a lot of retraining of staff to get up to be able to look after critical care patients and ventilated patients," he said.
Some of the staff already had intensive care nursing skills; others have had to go through an intense training program to ensure that they are ready and able to look after intensive care patients safely.
"Then further down the line should any more beds be required we can still open up the old ICU ... which will be our ICU four, which will have another 19 beds," Dr Davey-Quinn said.
Ms O'Brien said it was important to point out that while there have not been huge numbers of COVID cases in the local health district (of 116; a total of 107 have recovered and two are being cared for at Wollongong Hospital), the effort behind the scenes was ongoing.
"We are very active in the background working hard to ensure that we are here and able to look after any patients that come through the hospital," she said.
Dr Davey-Quinn said staff should be "immensely proud" of all the work put in to make the hospital - particularly the ICUs - safe for patients and staff.
"I think the general public can rest assured that when they come to Wollongong hospital ... whether they have COVID, or whether they don't, whatever is wrong with them they will still get 100 per cent the best treatment available to them," he said.
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