Work on the highest point of the Eurobodalla Regional Hospital was completed in October. Photo: NSW Government.
With 350 workers on site, the new Level 4 Eurobodalla Regional Hospital is progressing rapidly towards a handover date in early 2027.
Work on the highest point of the structure was completed in October. The next major steps are fitout and commissioning.
State Member for Bega Dr Michael Holland said the hospital would be a big step in closing the gap in Indigenous health locally, as well as closing that big gap in healthcare for non-Indigenous residents “because we know we are disadvantaged in rural and regional areas”.
It will be the first hospital in the region to feature an Intensive Care Unit and a Close Observation Unit, and the first Far South Coast hospital with an in-hospital MRI machine.
Those features, including the Level 4 emergency department, would lay the foundation for future developments, Dr Holland said at a Southern NSW Local Health District (SNSWLHD) online community forum on 4 December.
The hospital will be larger than its Moruya and Batemans Bay counterparts combined and require about 150 additional staff.
To help attract specialists, SNSWLHD has formed partnerships with the Australian National University, the University of Canberra, the University of Wollongong and Charles Sturt University, and would like to become a regional training hub for specialists.
It is putting forward a submission to the College of Surgeons to be a training facility for advanced trainees in surgery starting in 2027.
To house the hospital staff, SNSWLHD has spent $5 million to buy five three-bedroom dwellings in Moruya. Staff will be moving in by the end of December.
SNSWLHD has allocated a further $12 million to build additional staff accommodation on the hospital site.
Dr Holland confirmed his commitment and that of NSW Health Minister Ryan Park to deliver radiation oncology services at the new hospital at some point after it has opened. He also confirmed the commitment to an aeromedical helicopter base at Moruya Airport, which would be the first of its kind south of Wollongong.
An artist’s impression of Eurobodalla Regional Hospital. Image: NSW Health.
On 2 December, SNSWLHD became the first rural health district in NSW to start the Hospital in the Home service. A dedicated medical officer who is an emergency physician oversees the 34 “beds” across the district.
The Hospital in the Home service is a hospital replacement service that gives the same clinical care that patients would receive inside the four walls of the hospital. It means patients can be discharged from hospital earlier or do not need to be admitted to the hospital or emergency department.
The medical officer does a “virtual ward round” every day and is supported by nurse practitioners and a dedicated pharmacist. In 2026, allied health specialists will be added.
The service is available at homes and aged-care facilities where there is a reliable internet service. Patients wear a device that records their vital signs.
SNSWLHD said that, so far, more than 20,000 patients had presented to the Batemans Bay Medicare Urgent Care Clinic. In early November, it started operating with extended hours, from 6 am to midnight. Across NSW, about 22 per cent of presentations are outside business hours.
Katherine Fisher, who works at the Batemans Bay Medicare Urgent Care Clinic, said the service was on a “huge recruitment drive” and had already hired several more experienced emergency department nurses, and paramedics.
Meanwhile, work is underway on the new $20 million Batemans Bay Community Health Centre. Adjacent to the Urgent Care Clinic, it will be completed in 2026 and deliver several allied health services.
Residents from the northern end of the shire remain concerned about transport time and availability of ambulances to take them to the new Eurobodalla Regional Hospital after the Batemans Bay hospital and its emergency department have closed.
Brad Scotcher, general manager of SNSWLHD’s coastal health network, said staff worked closely with the ambulance service.
“They have their own metrics and mechanisms for measuring the requirement for ambulance resources to be deployed to certain areas,” Mr Scotcher said.
“They look at acuity, timeliness of care, number of calls in a region and make decisions, in consultation with the NSW Health Service and the government, around where they need to establish more services to meet the needs of the community.”
Mr Scotcher said as the new Eurobodalla hospital progressed, there would be further discussions around the availability of ambulance resources to the northern part of the shire and travel times, acknowledging that up to 5 million people visited the shire.
He said it was already common for patients in the Level 2 Batemans Bay hospital to be transferred by ambulance to the Level 3 one in Moruya.
