Wollongong MP Paul Scully (left) and Keira MP Ryan Park turn the first sod on the new Warrawong Community Health Centre. Photos: Jen White.
Construction has started on the Warrawong Community Health Centre, which NSW Health Minister Ryan Park regards as “absolutely critical” for the local area.
The centre, in the grounds of Port Kembla Hospital, is due to be completed by 2026.
The former centre near the intersection of King and Greene streets was demolished earlier this year to make way for the $30 million Southern Suburbs Community Centre and Library.
“This is absolutely critical for this local community,” Mr Park said.
“It’s essentially a health service, all in one, providing those services from childhood through to sexual health, through drug and alcohol, through the equipment that people can loan, through to community mental health and community nursing.”
Mr Park was joined on site last week by Wollongong MP and NSW Planning Minister Paul Scully, along with staff from the Illawarra Shoalhaven Local Health District (ISLHD) and the builder, Stephen Edwards Constructions, to turn the first sod on the project.
The health centre will operate as a hub for a range of community services from Port Kembla Hospital and across ISLHD, including:
- Child and family health services
- Binji and Boori (Aboriginal Maternal Infant Health Service)
- Community nursing
- Community mental health
- Sexual health services
- Drug and alcohol services
- An equipment loan pool.
It will feature courtyards to support patients accessing clinical services, providing spaces for outdoor education, respite and clinical therapies.
Landscaping has been designed with input from local Aboriginal groups and will feature native plants and trees.
The centre is being delivered as part of the more than $780 million new Shellharbour Hospital and Integrated Services Project.
As part of the project, services at Port Kembla Hospital are being wound down ahead of its eventual closure.
All inpatient units have been relocated from Port Kembla Hospital to newly refurbished facilities at Wollongong and Bulli hospitals, while community-based services are still operating until the new centre is built.
Construction work gets underway on the new centre.
Mr Park said plans to close the hospital had not yet been finalised.
“It is a challenging site, it’s an old site and we are working through the government processes around what we need to do about that,” he said.
“It’s something that Paul and I are meeting with the local health district every few months in order to progress. It is complicated because of the nature of the construction and the fact that we still have a workforce in and around this area.
“We understand it needs to happen, we understand that it’s a priority, but these things have to be sequenced in a way that we can ensure the staff can move to appropriate other accommodation to carry out their work.”
Meanwhile, the first concrete slab has been poured on the Dunmore site of the new Shellharbour Hospital.
The concrete forms the foundation of the hospital’s perioperative unit, which will house new state-of-the-art operating theatres.
“You’ll start to see, every time you go past that site, there will be growth in the construction of what is arguably one of the most important hospital sites in NSW,” Mr Park said.
“It’s servicing one of the fastest-growing regions in the southern part of the Illawarra and is also going to take significant pressure off one of the busiest hospitals in NSW, and that is at Wollongong.
“That hospital can’t come out of the ground soon enough.
“We’ve had to increase the budget and I know that brings with it challenges, but that is going to be an important hospital that we deliver for the community.”
Mr Park paid tribute to the work of Mr Scully and the previous health minister Brad Hazzard in getting the major health projects off the ground.
He said although an enormous amount had been invested in health services in the region, more was needed and “there’ll be more to come, because our community is growing”.
Mr Scully said it was “great to see shovels hit the ground” at the new community centre.
“After many years of advocating for this new Community Health Centre, Wollongong’s southern suburbs will be provided with a modern healthcare hub, bringing much-needed healthcare services together under one roof,” he said.
Original Article published by Jen White on Region Illawarra.
