With more than five wards full of COVID patients and staff that are tired, burnt out and in need of a break, the Illawarra's health district is bracing for another tough Christmas.
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For the region's health boss Margot Mains, this is emblematic of the rest of this year - which she describes as "incredibly challenging".
In 2022, the region's hospitals have repeatedly faced what officials have labelled "unprecedented" challenges, with workforce shortages colliding with an influx of patients with COVID and the flu, as well as long term systemic issues regarding the cost and availability of GPs appointments, and a lack of aged care beds.
Just last week, Wollongong Hospital recorded its longest ever average waiting time in the emergency department, with wait times for ambulances outside the hospital also well above the state average.
Ms Mains said this tough environment would likely continue as the year ends.
"150 patients are currently in hospital, today, with COVID," she said, ahead of the district's annual public meeting on Monday.
"That's between five to six wards of people, and that impacts on other services you deliver - but we need to be there for everybody, regardless of people with COVID or people coming in for surgery.
"We will be challenged over the Christmas period, because we've got these heightened numbers of people with COVID and we're also a paradise where everybody loves to come to visit.
"Christmas used to be our quiet period, but that's no longer - every hospital we've got will be extremely busy, and with COVID and trying to get staff off on leave is very challenging."
Ms Mains said the annual meeting was designed to share what the organisation had done over the past 12 months, as well as where it was heading in the new year.
She paid tribute to the "brilliant and absolutely stunning" staff who had allowed the district to get through the challenges of the year, despite a recent survey highlighting that they were "tired, some feel burnt out, some just would like to have a good break and deserve an incredibly good break and they just want to see some things settle down because the demands keep coming,"
Aside from COVID, she acknowledged the district's biggest problem was "access and flow" for patients who face difficulties accessing GPs, long waits at the ED and delays in getting a bed in the hospital wards.
"We are really trying to work hard to address those situations," Ms Mains said. "We want to provide the best for our community."
With $1.25 billion of health developments in the pipeline- including Shellharbour and Shoalhaven hospitals which are due to open in 2027, Ms Mains said she was optimistic about the coming year, despite the lingering challenge of COVID.
She said ward refurbishment at Wollongong Hospital would provide palliative care and rehabilitation at the region's largest hospital, and also highlighted that two wards originally set up to be residential aged care run by IRT at Bulli Hospital would be refurbished for hospital aged care.
Ms Mains said 2023 would be an equally challenging year if the issues with GPs and aged care were not addressed "with urgency".
"We need to get the answers with the Commonwealth and the state and we're working really hard together on that," she said.
She said the district had made advances in delivering more virtual care services, including a virtual hospital ward - which can look after acute patients who require up to three day stays in their own home.
Other achievements included the establishment of local cardiothoracic surgeries - which meant over 174 people had had surgeries locally - and an increase in research and clinical trials, Ms Mains said.
Kate McIlwain
For more than a decade, I've helped the Illawarra Mercury set the news agenda across the region. Currently I'm the paper's health reporter - covering the stories of Illawarra workers and residents in the wake of a global pandemic and at a time where our health systems are stretched to the limit.
For more than a decade, I've helped the Illawarra Mercury set the news agenda across the region. Currently I'm the paper's health reporter - covering the stories of Illawarra workers and residents in the wake of a global pandemic and at a time where our health systems are stretched to the limit.
