Hundreds of Illawarra residents have signed a petition to get NSW Health to reopen the urgent care centre at Bulli Hospital, with some concerned that the northern suburbs medical service has been "closed by stealth".
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Four months after the centre closed temporarily at Christmas, the heath district says "ongoing challenges with medical staffing" are keeping the hospital closed, and has now indicated that it may need to change "model of care" the centre provides.
Lisa Irwin, who started a change.org petition three days ago which has already received more than 500 signatures, said residents had fought to keep Bulli's emergency or urgent care services open for years.
She said she was worried the urgent care centre - which opened in August 2020 - at the hospital had now been "closed by stealth", as there was no indication of when it would reopen.
The centre, which is used by many northern suburbs residents as an alternative to the Wollongong emergency department for less serious injuries, was shut temporarily on December 24 due to staff shortages over the busy Christmas period.
In the months since, the district has been unable to provide a date for the reopening and says it may need to change the way the centre operates due to ongoing staffing issues.
"The District is working to re-open the Urgent Care Centre as soon as possible, however ongoing challenges with medical staffing have delayed this from occurring," the district's Executive Director Clinical Operations Margaret Martin said.
"Given this, the District is considering options for the model of care at the Urgent Care Centre, based on the availability of appropriate medical staff and the needs of the local community."
Heathcote MP Lee Evans expanded on the challenges being faced by the health district in an interview with ABC radio this week.
He said there were issues getting doctors to staff the urgent care centre and the state government was trying to come up with a plan to get over that.
"We haven't had anybody who is willing to commit to it, and that's been the ongoing issue since December," he said.
He said doctors were being offered a "very enticing" pay to work at the centre, but indicated there were concerns over the risks with "legalities" of having a single doctor on shift.
"A single medico with nursing help is probably looking at their medical insurances and thinking 'it's a bit of a stretch for me to be here by myself'," he said.
"If you're a medico in an urgent care facility, you're the brains behind the outfit.
"They do have a connection with Wollongong Hospital, but decisions have to be made and having a single medico onboard is the biggest issue. They want to have the backup of having someone they can talk to or consult with.
"They want to have one or two more medicos at that centre - so if there's an urgent care that comes in, they can deal with it."
Among the more than 500 people who have signed the change.org petition to reopen the hospital, many have spoken about how vital it is to the region's struggling health system.
"This service is crucial to the growing northern suburbs population to take pressure off Wollongongs overrun ED in an area where a wait for a GP appointment can be a week or more," Katherine Hendel wrote.
"The urgent care centre has saved us many times avoiding clogging up ED with the need for a few stitches or similar."
Likewise, Jenny Muir said she had used the care centre a number of times with her young children.
"I think this service is important in our area as GPs are always booked out and it take the pressure off Wollongong hospital emergency which is also always too busy with long wait times," she said.
Labor's health spokesman and Keira MP Ryan Park said he would fight to make sure an urgent care service continued to operate at Bulli.
"It's what people of the northern suburbs were promised and what they were committed," he said.
"We need to get a model that works for patients but is also safe and effective. People with those minor illnesses and issues and concerns that they have need to be able to get treatment without having to go into Wollongong ED, which we know if under enormous pressure."
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