The Editor, Illawarra Mercury.

Senior doctors in the ISLHD welcome the Prime Minister’s commitment to increase funding
for the Shellharbour Hospital redevelopment, and the alternative government’s decision to
match this commitment. Total funding now exceeds $370 million.
We do however have concerns about redeveloping Shellharbour Hospital on its current site.
The current site is landlocked and will be very costly to prepare for a new building. It is poorly
located for public transport and street access. Redevelopment will be highly disruptive to
hospital activities during construction.
We would urge the State government, Federal government and alternative Federal government
to consider the benefits of constructing a new hospital on a greenfield site in the South of
Wollongong near a train station and the highway. This would greatly improve community
access to the hospital. It will avoid disruption created by construction on the current site. It
would be highly efficient for ambulance and other hospital transport travelling between the
three major acute hospitals. This position would allow it effectively take pressure off
Wollongong Hospital which is now bursting at the seams. It could be built in a similar time
frame to the current plans for Shellharbour Hospital with little additional government funds. It
would avoid the need for a future Phase Two redevelopment of Shellharbour Hospital on the
current site.
Our message is that Shellharbour Hospital should be redeveloped once, and should be located
where it can properly serve the future needs of this growing community.
ISLHD medical specialist signatories:
Maureen Lonergan Ramesh Fernando Elias Nasser
Joshua Rijsdijk Christopher Fox Ken Noda
Geoffrey Murray Niladri Ghosh James Oldham
Nick Adams James Greenstein Elizabeth Paige
Morteza Aghmesheh Hicham Hassan Alexia Pape
Abrar Ali Jane Holt Laura Pearce
Zoran Apostoloski Ian Jenssen Paul Pearson
Guy Bashford Andrew Jones Jan Potter
Divina Brillante Francoise Joseph Ajay Prabhu Purushottam
Katherine Brown Sharlyn Kang Ata Rehman
John Carmody Simon Keane Damian Ryan
Lorraine Chantrill Johanna Kohlhagen Omar Shum
Rashna Chinoy Claire Langford Peter Smith
Jeremy Christley Thomas Lee Stuart Tan
Tien Chu Seo Ling Austin Terry
Craig Davenport Richard Liu Ravi Thapaliya
Michael Davis Bindu Murali Tatiana Velitchko
Hong Du Karumathi Murali Wael Wahaib
Barry Elison Spiros Miyaki Jonathon Wyatt
Zivai Nangati