No one could envy the job Ms Mains has on her hands. Being responsible for the region's hospitals, their staff and everything in between is a big ask, mainly while the nation works through a pandemic.

Over the last few months, the Mercury has written hundreds of words about Wollongong's health system. We've asked readers to tell us about their experiences in Wollongong Hospital Emergency Department, and what we have been told left us shocked. Often the stories are book-ended with how hard the staff are working and how the issues faced by patients are not the workers' fault.

Ms Mains' letter explains some of the details behind the crisis in our healthcare system. And it is a system problem, not a problem that lies only at the doors of Wollongong Hospital.

Ms Mains places the blame at the Federal Government's door. She describes an appalling shortage of residential aged care beds, with more than 200 lost in recent years. Astonishingly almost 100 hospital beds in the district are occupied by aged care patients who do not need hospital treatment.

On the other end of the scale is the struggling GP network, which puts further pressure on the emergency department. The local health district is stuck between a rock and a hard place. Everything the Mercury has heard in the last few weeks and months points to a situation which will not change unless our state and federal leaders resolve to take a long hard look at the healthcare system together.

During the early days of COVID the national cabinet or COAG allowed decisions to be made quickly to address the crisis. The weekly meetings permitted decisions to be made and acted upon quickly. Yesterday, health ministers across states, territories and the federal government met in Canberra to look at the challenges facing Australia's public hospitals.

The Mercury will endeavour to find out what was discussed and what the next steps look like, and we hope this is the first of many conversations.

- Gayle Tomlinson