Liberal Candidate for South Coast Luke Sikora has welcomed Shoalhaven community being a step closer to having a new emergency department, new intensive care unit, and twice as many operating theatres in the $438 million redeveloped Shoalhaven Hospital, with a building contractor now appointed.
Mr Sikora said this was an important step forward for the project.
“Today’s announcement is about taking a significant step forward in delivering state of the art healthcare right across the South Coast region,” he said.
“A new emergency department, new intensive care unit and doubling the operating theatres will make a huge difference to the well-being of the community.”
Minister for Health Brad Hazzard said the John Holland Group had been engaged following a competitive tender process to carry out the hospital expansion, which features a new state-of-the-art seven-storey acute clinical services building.
“The NSW Liberal and Nationals Government is investing $438 million to transform Shoalhaven Hospital so the community has access to a wider range of world-class health services right on their doorstep,” Mr Hazzard said.
“Shoalhaven Hospital will be the major health hub for the region, providing the majority of emergency, critical care and acute care locally, so that fewer patients will need to be transferred to hospitals in Wollongong and Sydney.
“Clinicians, staff and the community have all been engaged in the planning and design of the redevelopment to ensure the new and improved hospital in the heart of Shoalhaven will meet the growing community’s healthcare needs into the future.”
The new acute services building is set to include a new emergency department with an emergency short-stay unit to improve the flow of patients and reduce waiting times, an intensive care unit, double the number of operating theatres and endoscopy rooms, a new dedicated cardiology inpatient unit, and a new rooftop helipad providing direct access to the emergency department and intensive care unit.
Member for South Coast Shelley Hancock said access to local health services, including mental health care, will be significantly boosted in the redeveloped Shoalhaven Hospital.
“The hospital expansion will include a psychiatric emergency care centre for emergency and crisis response, as well as a mental health inpatient unit to provide our most vulnerable with the support they need,” Mrs Hancock said.
“Beyond the significant healthcare benefits, the redevelopment is also expected to support around 800 direct jobs, with the potential to support thousands of indirect jobs over the life of the project, which is a huge win for the local economy.”
Work on the Shoalhaven Hospital redevelopment commenced last year, with construction well underway on the new and expanded Shoalhaven Community Preschool, which is being relocated to a new purpose-built facility at the southern end of the hospital campus.
Construction of the new acute clinical services building is expected to start mid-2023, once the pre-school has been completed, and the redevelopment is expected to be completed in 2026.
The NSW Government is investing a record $11.9 billion in health infrastructure over the four years to 2025-26.
Images: Supplied
