The region's health boss says a decision to transfer COVID-positive patients from Sydney to Wollongong Hospital is the result of a networked health system, and has the support of local frontline staff.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Meantime, Wollongong MP Paul Scully has called on the community to open its arms to the out-of-area patients, expressing confidence the arrangements will not place local patients at any disadvantage.
Live blog: No new COVID cases recorded in the Illawarra
Illawarra Shoalhaven Local Health District's chief executive Margot Mains confirmed seven COVID patients had recently been transferred to Wollongong Hospital from overstretched Sydney hospitals.
"The people that are coming to us are from south-western Sydney," she told reporters, at a press conference timed to coincide with the opening of the region's mass vaccination hub on Monday morning.
"We operate as a group of networked hospitals where we support each other. We transfer people out and we have offered our support to them to transfer people out because they were under considerable pressure."
"We also have considerable capability ... we have the right environment, we have a specially dedicated COVID ward with appropriate ventilation, we've got fully trained staff, they're all vaccinated, they've got the right PPE, they're all trained in ICU and the COVID ward and they were keen for us to operate and offer their skills to people in an area that's under considerable pressure."
Ms Mains said the health district was working to increase the capacity of its COVID ward from 10 to 14. None of the region's allocation of Pfizer vaccine had been diverted to areas considered to have greater need, she said.
"We did not lose any vaccination," she said.
Responding to news of incoming patients from south-western Sydney, Wollongong MP Paul Scully said:
"For the last few weeks - every single day - we've had COVID patients up at Wollongong Hospital. There's not going to be an outbreak as a result of a few patients coming from areas that need some assistance.
"The Illawarra has always prided itself on stepping up and helping out when we could and we would expect the same thing to happen to us if we were in the same situation as some of our friends in western Sydney, so I want to thank the clinicians who thought through this process, who came up with a plan and who decided they could do their bit to help out areas of need because the Illawarra has always done our bit and will continue to do so."
"I'm confident that clinical staff have gone through all the scenarios they could. These are people who have been ... getting prepared for this for months. They are ready to go whether it was us having a mass outbreak down here and we needed to rely on our friends and colleagues in Sydney or the reverse as we're seeing, so I am completely confident that there will be no loss and no diminution of the treatment for anyone who needs it, as a result of this change."
Keira MP Ryan Park praised area health authorities and tradespeople for getting the hub operational, but blamed government for the fact the site was only operating at one-third of its capacity.
"I think every Australian is disappointed with the vaccination rollout; it's been bungled. The fact we've got capacity here to do more and that we can't do that is a frustration for frontline clinicians, it's a frustration for health workers, it's a frustration for small business owners who remain shut, it's a frustration for all of us."
"Of course we want it running at full capacity. Unfortunately, [due to] the nature of the bungled rollout, we can't do that at the moment."
We depend on subscription revenue to support our journalism. If you are able, please subscribe here. If you are already a subscriber, thank you for your support.