The Health Minister Brad Hazzard today announced the new state-of-the-art Shellharbour Hospital will be built on a greenfield site on Dunmore Road, Dunmore, 7km closer to Kiama.

“This fantastic greenfield site is well connected to the road and rail transport network so the hospital will be accessible to the whole community,” Mr Hazzard said.

“The site also provides space for the hospital to expand in the future so it can continue to meet the healthcare needs of the growing Illawarra community.

“The new hospital will deliver world class health services to Shellharbour, reduce travel times and take the pressure off other nearby facilities such as Wollongong.

"We’ve chosen a great site to build our hospital and, after careful planning with staff and the community, we expect to see shovels in the ground before March 2023.”

It coincides with plans to expand bed capacity and services at Bulli and Wollongong and build a new community health facility at Warrawong.

The changes will lead to the staged closure of Port Kembla Hospital and a greatly expanded new hospital at Shellharbour as part of a $700 million-plus redevelopment project.

The new Shellharbour Hospital is expected to include:

• expanded emergency services
• increased surgical capacity
• rehabilitation and aged care services 
• acute medical services
• new mental health services in contemporary, patient-centred facilities
• renal dialysis
• outpatients and ambulatory care services
• car parking and improved public transport links.

As part of the integrated project, NSW Health will expand its services at Bulli Hospital and add palliative care and rehabilitation beds at Wollongong Hospital while the new Shellharbour Hospital is being built. A new community health facility will also be built at Warrawong.

Now that a preferred site for the new Shellharbour Hospital has been identified, the project team will carry out further due diligence investigations to ensure the site meets the region’s needs before acquiring it.