Shoalhaven Hospital's $438 million redevelopment has passed another milestone, with the new and expanded Shoalhaven Community Preschool being officially opened on Friday, August 25.
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And NSW Health Minister Ryan Park was lavish in his praise for the new centre, describing it as the best he had ever seen.
"I just haven't seen a preschool like this in terms of the state of the art equipment, the scope, the size, the scale, the beautiful steeped playground, the links into country," he said following the opening.
"Today is a really terrific day - I've never seen a preschool like this.
"This is a beautiful place, an incredible piece of infrastructure."
The quality of the facilities even drew a loud an unanimous "thank-you" from children attending the preschool.
Mr Park said relocating the community preschool was a vital part of the hospital's redevelopment, which he said was on track to be completed in 2026.
He said young families were benefitting from the relocation, with enrolments able to expand from the previous 93 to the capacity of 121.
Shoalhaven Community Preschool director Kate Morris said the centre was especially well positioned to cater for staff of the expanded hospital.
She said the new facilities and expanded numbers allowed the preschool to take in more more Aboriginal children, more with special needs, and more from non-English speaking backgrounds.
"This means a lot to families," Ms Morris said, adding the children were "thriving in the new space".
Staff were also happier in the new state of the art facilities, Ms Morris said.
"It means a lot to me, but more importantly it will mean a great deal to this community," Mr Park added.
"It's wonderful to see the new and modern preschool up and running, which is providing up to 60 places for young families in the area," he said.
State Member for South Coast, Liza Butler, said the upgraded hospital would support the Shoalhaven's growing population, which was projected to increase by more than a third over the next two decades.
"The $438 million redevelopment of Shoalhaven District Memorial Hospital will transform health services and deliver a health facility that will continue to support this community for generations to come," she said.
The redevelopment is expected to deliver first-class health care for the region close to home, so that fewer patients will need to be transferred to hospitals in Wollongong and Sydney.
Mr Park said the redeveloped hospital would provide the majority of emergency, critical and acute care locally, "which will be a game changer for patients, visitors and staff".
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The redevelopment includes:
- A new emergency department with an emergency short-stay unit to improve the flow of patients and reduce waiting times
- A new state-of-the-art intensive care unit
- Double the number of operating theatres and endoscopy rooms
- A dedicated cardiology inpatient unit; coronary care unit and catheterisation laboratory
- A new vascular surgery service and expanded orthopaedic, general surgery and urology services
- Overnight surgical unit and a dedicated day surgery unit
- New medical wards for specialities including gastroenterology, respiratory, oncology, endocrinology and general medicine
- A new acute mental health unit
- A psychiatric emergency care centre
- An expanded acute stroke unit
- A new nuclear medicine department
- Expanded medical imaging
- Dedicated acute aged care ward
- A sub-acute geriatric evaluation and management service
- A dedicated palliative care facility
- A new paediatric assessment unit
- A specialist rehabilitation unit
- Expanded outpatient departments
- A new rooftop helipad providing direct access to the ED and ICU
