Eurobodalla Regional Hospital on track as first slab is poured

Announced in 2020, construction on the hospital began in June last year, and the project has been meeting its significant milestones.

Work on the roundabout that will serve as an entrance to the site is expected to begin in coming months and completed by late 2025.

Despite some inclement weather holding up the project, the build is still expected to arrive on time in 2027.

"We're constantly having to pump out all the footings, and we've had to come back and tie reinforcements," said Karla Terry, project engineer at Multiplex.

"But we shouldn't be expecting any delays currently, so we're still maintaining our program as best we can."

Parliamentary Secretary for Health and Regional Health and Member for Bega Dr Michael Holland was on-site, and stressed the need for level four service for the Eurobodalla region.

Level four care is a determination that includes critical care, emergency and intensive care units.

"Having the intensive care and close observation unit would enable patients to have the care closer to home and avoid their transfers to Canberra," said Dr Holland.

"If I wanted to do an operation on someone who had a bad heart or bad lungs, had a high BMI and was very overweight, there would be procedures that you could not do in Moruya District Hospital now."

The level four rating allows the hospital to run a dedicated paediatric unit, neonatal support and a special care nursery.

"This spot we're standing on is going to be the first dedicated paediatric unit in the Eurobodalla, so that's historic," he said.

Dr Holland dismissed concerns that traffic bottlenecks on the Moruya Bridge would delay patients needing urgent care from getting to the emergency department.

"Ambulance services and patient transport have navigated this highway between Batemans Bay and Narooma for the past 50 years, and ambulance services have navigated traffic, they've navigated natural disasters such as fire and flood to be able to access this," he explained.

"Everyone experiences these traffic jams, whether they're in the Eurobodalla or whether they're in Sydney."

While the minister maintained that traffic wouldn't be an issue in accessing the site, the proposed route for the Moruya bypass remains in place, though no significant development on the project has taken place.

"The reality of the bypass is that the preferred route has been determined, we know which way it's going to come through," said Dr Holland.

"But north of here, a bypass has to be built at Milton-Ulladulla, and as far as workforce and resources and funding, there are limitations to progressing two bypasses at the same time."

Meanwhile, the Liberal Party's federal candidate, Andrew Constance, and Deputy Leader Liberal Party NSW, Shadow Minister for Roads and Transport, Infrastructure, Illawarra and South Coast, Natalie Ward, have increased their support for a local campaign protesting the closure of the Batemans Bay Hospital, despite approving the closure while in government.

Mr Constance recently accompanied federal opposition leader Peter Dutton to a meeting with the 'DON'T close Batemans Bay Emergency Department' campaigners.

"We have committed as a Coalition to keep Batemans Bay Emergency Department open because we know how important it is to this community," said Ms Ward in a recent Facebook post outside the hospital.

Dr Holland dismissed the Coalition's promise to keep the Batemans Bay site open while admitting that consultation with the Batemans Bay community was ongoing.

"It's a plan that basically doesn't exist - there's nothing on paper, there's no blueprint, there's no workforce planning that's involved with that," he remarked.

"These are promises that can't be kept without the risk of having level four and high level critical care, intensive care and paediatric services."