NSW Labor leader Jodi McKay and Shadow Minister for Health Ryan Park are pushing for the government to provide a start and finish date for the Shoalhaven Hospital upgrades.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Ms McKay said ideally she would like construction to begin immediately.
"There's no money in the budget, bar $4 million for a car park, so what we're saying is stop talking about the planning for it and actually commit real dollars to it," she said.
"Tell us when the planning work is going to start and when it will be finished.
"If you look at what has even happened today with elective surgery it just shows there is an absolute crisis at Shoalhaven hospital."
During their visit, it's believed elective surgery at the hospital had been cancelled, there was bed block and eight beds in emergency were being allocated to admitted patients.
Kiama MP Gareth Ward was not impressed with their visit, calling it an insult to the nurses and doctors who worked there.
"Just typical, they come down and try to take credit for a policy we announced but they didn't actually go inside the hospital," he said.
"As we did with Berry bypass, we have to do the planning, it's an insult to the nurses and doctors we're consulting with to get the development right."
Shoalhaven Hospital has experienced significant issues this year with elective surgery availability, staff strikes and emergency wait times.
In March this year, Head of Surgery at the hospital Martin Jones said elective surgery had again been cancelled three days out of the last five and there was a chronic bed shortage.
Read more:
Mr Park said the hospital needs more staff to cope with problems before the expansion is built.
"It's quite clear they need additional nurses and additional nurses as soon as possible," he said.
"It's quite evident from the stories we've heard that the hospital isn't coping with the current amount of people that they're treating, you don't need to wait for a new hospital for that."
When asked what needed to be done now to address the problems the Shoalhaven Hospital is faced with, Mr Ward said the government had already announced more nurses.
"We've already committed to 5000 new nurses around the state and we'll get our fair show around the Shoalhaven as well," he said.
"What's their commitment?"
The NSW Liberal government in November announced $434 million to redevelop the hospital and said construction would begin within this term of government.