Shoalhaven Hospital Development update and announcement.

Shoalhaven will benefit from a 21 million investment in health worker housing. Video by Abi Kirkland

Transcript

00:00This project, $438 million, the most significant investment in health services in the Shoal Haven

00:08for a very, very long time. It will greatly increase the capacity of clinical services

00:14at this hospital. We'll see about an 80% increase in emergency department capacity,

00:20we'll see a doubling of ICU, we'll see about a 60% increase in inpatient beds for the people

00:28of the Shoal Haven and the broader South Coast region. We'll also see some specialty cardiology

00:34services are run out of here. Very importantly, an acute mental health facility that expanded ED

00:40and expanded ICU, all of which has to be adequately staffed and resourced. And I want to thank the

00:47staff at Shoal Haven Hospital who are out today and every other day working as hard as they can

00:52to deliver health services across this region. Importantly, this hospital has a capacity to

00:58take some pressure off hospitals like Wollongong and with the construction well underway

01:04for Shell Harbour, both of these sites will take a lot of pressure off Wollongong and play a key

01:11role in the delivery of health services going forward. Today I also want to announce that $21

01:17million will be allocated to this region, to Nowra, for key health worker accommodation. That

01:24is absolutely critical to properly resource our hospitals. It is something that Liza and

01:31Dr Holland and others had talked to me about for some time, raising the issue that to get staff

01:37in regional rural areas we need to make sure that there is adequate housing and that investment,

01:43part of a $200 million investment in key worker housing, is all about making sure that we can

01:50deliver that. I want to thank everyone involved in this important project, thank the staff at

01:54Shoal Haven Hospital and of course Liza and the broader community for both their advocacy

02:00and their patience while this project is underway.