There are concerns Wollongong Hospital will not have the staff to cope with a surge in patients when serious illness and hospitalisations from COVID-19 likely peak next month.
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Member for Keira and Labor health spokesman Ryan Park said an ongoing parliamentary inquiry into health outcomes and access to services in regional and rural areas had shown that Illawarra hospitals were already under "enormous pressure" before the pandemic hit.
"I'm very concerned that the hospital won't be able to staff the required number of... ICU beds that we might need," Mr Park said.
"The big concern is not as much, 'Will they have the beds'. It's 'Can we have the staff available - do we have the staff available across the region to be able to cope with a growing number of hospitalisations and potential ICU [patients]'.
"That's my big concern here, going forward."
Illawarra nurses have already spoken about staffing shortages and their concerns about what that will mean when COVID hospitalisations peak.
Wollongong nurse and branch secretary of the NSW Nurses and Midwives' Association, Genevieve Stone, told the Mercury earlier this month that she was nervous because the hospital did not have enough staff for the beds.
Mr Park said all staff of the Illawarra Shoalhaven Local Health District were doing "outstanding" preparation work.
But he said the hospital would come under huge strain if the forecasts provided by the modelling came to fruition.
Illawarra Shoalhaven LHD chief executive Margot Mains said earlier this month that the district had been escalating its COVID plans in line with a move to increase capacity across the NSW Health system.
Ms Mains said Wollongong's COVID ward capacity would grow to 74 beds, using space that was occupied by the old vaccination clinic.
The head of Wollongong Hospital's intensive care unit, Dr Alan Davey-Quinn, said that the critical care workforce had been boosted by redeploying specially trained nurses from other parts of the hospital.
He said some of these nurses had also gone to work in the COVID ward to look after patients who did not need intensive care.
Mr Park also said the pandemic had magnified existing issues in the region's hospitals, including growing elective surgery waiting lists, long emergency department waiting times, and lengthy patient waits in ambulances before being moved into hospital.
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Natalie Croxon
Reporter at the Illawarra Mercury, mostly covering social affairs. Previously of the Bendigo Advertiser, Northern Daily Leader and Quirindi Advocate. Our Watch award winner.
Reporter at the Illawarra Mercury, mostly covering social affairs. Previously of the Bendigo Advertiser, Northern Daily Leader and Quirindi Advocate. Our Watch award winner.
