Bulli Hospital: patients turned away from new $54 million facility due to staff shortages

Five months since the revamped Bulli Hospital was unveiled the local health district has admitted it cannot attract enough medical staff and has been forced to turn patients away.

Opposition Health spokesman Ryan Park outside Bulli Hospital. Picture: Madeline Crittenden

The Shoalhaven Local Health District has confirmed it is “having great difficulty” in attracting staff to Bulli’s Urgent Care Centre, after locals reported being turned away due to a doctor shortage.

The $54 million Bulli Hospital opened in August 2020 and offers an Urgent Primary Health Care Centre and specialist aged care centre, however concerns are being raised about “the point” of the urgent care facility, given staff shortages.

Shadow Health Minister Ryan Park raised concern over staffing at the hospital on Monday, after a local resident was told to attend Corrimal Medical Centre when he presented to the Urgent Care Centre (UCC) with abdominal pain, due to the lack of a doctor onsite.

“This hospital plays a key role in taking pressure off a very, very busy emergency department in Wollongong, that’s one of the key functions, to serve the growing community of the northern suburbs that swells this time of year,” Mr Park said.

“I don’t see the purpose … If this is not a case of a facility functioning the way it should be, it’s a case of services inside not being available, and that’s not good enough in a brand new facility.”

The Illawarra Shoalhaven Local Health District confirmed that during the facility’s opening hours of 7am to 10pm, one doctor and one nurse are rostered on to work.

However, in a letter to Mr Park, the district’s board chair Dr Dennis King said staffing was an issue.

“We are having great difficulty attracting appropriate staff to that service, despite offering rates of pay that are often particularly generous,” he wrote.

The new Bulli Hospital. Picture: supplied

“Clearly we need a complete review of the purpose and staffing of this facility and I shall ask the Chief Executive to conduct a review at her earlier convenience.”

In response to questions asked by the Illawarra Star, Illawarra Shoalhaven Health District Chief Executive Margot Mains confirmed an external review into staffing would be conducted, noting staff shortages did occur at the facility.

“From time to time there are shortages in the availability of doctors at the UCC,” she said.

“Hospital management makes every effort to fill all shifts, however as with many workplaces,

school holidays and long weekends are particularly popular for leave.”

Mr Park worried, however, that redirecting Bulli’s patients to other facilities would further congest an already-strained health system across the Illawarra.

“What we don't want is people being turned away because what happens then is, it’s almost like a hospital has been set up to fail and people no longer start to use it, which will increase pressure on Wollongong and lose the whole purpose of this facility,” he said.

“We’re in one of the most beautiful locations in NSW, in a brand new facility I don’t know why we are having problems attracting staff.”