The Nowra Private Hospital (NPH) has opened its $9 million renovation to the public.
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The new renovation included the creation of an additional operating theatre, patient ward and oncology unit, plus the refurbishment of three existing operating theatres. Patient rooms were converted from shared rooms to private rooms and the hospital was given a general facelift inside and out. It was shown to the public on Wednesday, June 23.
NPH CEO Prue Buist said the doctors had a huge part to play in the project and should now be confident to bring their patients to the hospital.
"There's been a significant amount of growth in the region and the hospital as it stood before was pretty much at full capacity," she said.
"So it meant that we had doctors coming into the region consulting and then having to take the patients out of the area to be able to provide care for them.
"We have grown our services so we can now look after more patients and have the right facilities for them."
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The bulk of the building process was completed in September 2019 but builders did not leave until the end of January this year.
The planning stage of the project began a couple years before it was given approval by the Ramsay Health Board and then Shoalhaven City Council.
"It was an incredibly challenging build - it's a masonry build which meant that it was noisy and dusty and so it was challenging having to work within the confines of the building," said Mrs Buist.
Mrs Buist thanked the community and council for their support.
She said she was looking forward to the next part of the hospital's development which will involve expansion into land purchased on McKenzie Street which is behind the hospital.
"That means additional theatres, expanding our day oncology service and we're also looking into facilities for mental health," she said.
"The Ramsay Health Board has put a significant amount of emphasis on making sure that we're growing our regional hospitals. So there's been a lot of money spent on the region because there's such significant growth which has been exacerbated by COVID."
