Why Wollongong Hospital?

Wollongong Hospital is part of the Illawarra Shoalhaven Local Health District, located in the city of Wollongong, 1 hour south of Sydney along the coast. It is the major referral hospital of the Illawarra region. The hospital provides level 5/6 clinical services in:

• Surgery
• Medicine
• Maternal & Neonatal Care
• Paediatric
• Intensive Care
• Emergency
• Cancer Care

Wollongong Hospital has a wide range of facilities including:

• 500 inpatient beds
• ICU & HDU
• All medical specialties including 24/7 Cardiac Intervention, Aged Care, Paediatrics & Mental Health
• All surgical except cardiothoracic surgery

Wollongong Hospital has an expanded regional Emergency Department that sees 65,000 patients per year. Wollongong ED provides a breadth of experience. Approximately, 20% of attendances are Paediatric and 20% of patients are over 70 years. Outside of the designated trauma centres, it sees more trauma than any other regional/urban hospital in NSW. Acuity and admission rates are relatively high. It boasts 4 Resuscitation bays, 17 fully monitored Acute Assessment beds, 10 sub-acute treatment bays, 8 Paediatric beds, 6 Rapid Assessment bays, a 4 bedded Minor Injuries and Illness unit staffed by Nurse and Physiotherapy Practitioners and 13 Short Stay beds (for identified discharges). The Emergency Department has recently undergone a redesign and expansion to align with newly adopted Emergency Models of Care.

The Emergency Department has a growing staff including:

• 12 Emergency Consultants (with wide ranging sub-specialty interests such as Paeds Emergency, Retrieval, Ultrasound, Toxicology, Research and Simulation)
• 6 FTE Career Medical Staff (non-specialist but experienced)
• 20 FTE Emergency Trainees (with non-ED rotations to ICU, General Medicine, Anaesthetics and Simulation registrar SST accredited by ACEM)
• 4 Critical Care SRMOs
• 12 FTE Emergency Residents
• 12 FTE Interns

Wollongong Hospital has strong links with the University of Wollongong Graduate School of Medicine providing new opportunities in education and research. A newly commissioned Simulation Centre provides state of the art training and further educational opportunities. An innovative teaching program is provided during 4 hours of protected time. An effective Primary and Fellowship preparation course is also well established.

For further information, please contact:

Dr Simon Binks
Director of Emergency Medicine Training
Simon.Binks1@health.nsw.gov.au