Our REDEVELOPMENT

The Shoalhaven Hospital Redevelopment will deliver contemporary and expanded hospital services and integrated health facilities for the Illawarra Shoalhaven Local Health District.

The NSW Government has committed $438 million to redevelop Shoalhaven Hospital and make it the health hub for the entire region, providing the majority of emergency, critical care, acute, subacute and non-admitted services locally, reducing the need to transfer patients to Wollongong and Sydney.

It will deliver state-of-the-art medical care for residents, including a new emergency department, medical wards, dedicated mental health ward, cardiology wards and double the number of surgical services and operating theatres. A new building for acute care services will be directly connected to the existing hospital, which will undergo its own refurbishment.

These new and expanded services will mean more capacity for emergency and elective surgery and access to more specialised staff, equipment and technology. Residents will have access to more services locally so they do not have to leave the region for treatment.

The new and expanded hospital will address:
 

• Current high occupancy rates in bed capacity, as well as for non-admitted services including clinic spaces
• Issues of access and equity
• Ensuring care can be kept closer to home
• Increases in acute activity and demand for aged care, medical, surgical and cancer services.

The new hospital will provide:

• A new emergency department (ED) and emergency short-stay unit to improve patient flow and reduce wait times
• New state-of-the-art intensive care unit (ICU)
• Theatres and endoscopy procedure rooms, doubling in number
• A dedicated cardiology inpatient unit (IPU), coronary care unit and catheterisation lab
• A new vascular surgery service and expanded orthopaedic, general surgery and urology services
• Overnight surgical IPUs and a dedicated day surgery unit
• New medical IPUs for specialties including gastroenterology, respiratory, oncology, endocrinology and general medicine
• A new acute mental health IPU
• A psychiatric emergency care centre for emergency and crisis response adjacent to the ED
• An expanded acute stroke unit collocated with a dedicated rehabilitation service to improve health outcomes and minimise functional loss
• A new nuclear medicine department to support expanded clinical services including cancer, cardiology and respiratory care
• A new MRI service to provide improved diagnostic capacity
• Expanded medical imaging including CT, X-ray, ultrasound and mammography to support clinical services
• Significant increase in aged care capacity in a dedicated aged care ward
• A sub-acute geriatric evaluation and management service
• A dedicated palliative care facility
• A new paediatric assessment unit which will provide additional capacity for day presentations and short stay admissions
• A specialist rehabilitation unit for a range of conditions including stroke, orthopaedics, brain and spine injuries
• Expanded outpatient departments for follow up and management of admitted and non-admitted services
• Helipad on top of the new building with direct access to ICU and ED.