The Minns Labor Government is officially opening the upgraded Shoalhaven Memorial Hospital today as part of its $440 million redevelopment, delivering expanded, world-class facilities for the Illawarra and South Coast community.
The modern and purpose-built acute services building is the centrepiece of the redevelopment and is now serving the Shoalhaven.
The new seven-storey building will include an expanded emergency department, double the number of operating theatres and procedure rooms, along with a new rooftop helipad.
The major upgrade will transform healthcare for the growing region for decades to come, allowing Shoalhaven and South Coast communities access to treatment closer to home.
The new acute services building includes:
- a new emergency department and emergency short-stay unit
- a new intensive care unit
- medical wards
- a dedicated acute mental health unit
- double the number of operating theatres, endoscopy and procedure rooms
- a dedicated cardiology inpatient unit, coronary care unit and cardiac catheterisation laboratory
- a new medical imaging unit, including MRI and CT machines
- a new rooftop helipad
The new building connects directly to the existing hospital via a new linkway.
Services from the new and expanded emergency department commenced at 8am yesterday.
The Shoalhaven Memorial Hospital will also be home to one of the most advanced hospital pharmacies in NSW, with the installation of a pharmacy dispensing robot – the first of its kind in a regional NSW hospital.
Working alongside pharmacy teams, this technology supports medications being stored, selected and supplied with greater accuracy and efficiency, freeing up clinicians to spend more time on direct patient care.
Over the coming months, the Illawarra Shoalhaven Local Health District will continue the staged transition of services into the new building, including the psychiatric emergency care centre, acute and non-acute mental health services and new cardiology services.
Following the transition of services into the acute services building, the next phase of the redevelopment will focus on refurbishing existing hospital facilities.
The official opening follows years of planning and construction and comes as Shoalhaven Memorial Hospital celebrates 75 years of caring for the local community.
Recruitment and retention of health staff for the new facilities have also been supported with the Government’s $200 million Key Health Worker Accommodation Program, which saw the purchase of nine townhouses in Bomaderry last year.
