The NSW Government has released figures which show bed block in public hospitals in the Illawarra Shoalhaven has surged by approximately 25 per cent over the past year.

Despite this, emergency department (ED) treatment times are continuing to show signs of turning around with the Illawarra Shoalhaven Local Health District (ISLHD) achieving an improvement in T2 emergency treatment times.

The latest Bureau of Health Information (BHI) quarterly report shows T2 emergency treatment on time has increased across ISLHD by 2 percentage points to 51% including Wollongong up 8.8 percentage points to 55.5%.

T2 emergency patients are among the most unwell including those suffering from chest pain, difficulty breathing, severe fractures, serious abdominal pain and sepsis - and need to be treated within ten minutes.

It is particularly noteworthy given the July-September quarter is generally regarded as the busiest of the year, as winter illnesses circulate the community.

Data released in the latest Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) MyHospitals update reinforces this improvement, showing that despite having the highest demand for emergency care in the country, NSW hospitals had the shortest emergency care wait times in the country for 2024-25.

This improvement is part of the NSW Government’s broader work to rebuild essential health services, by recruiting more health workers, delivering more beds and expanding urgent care options.

The number of semi-urgent and non-urgent presentations to ISLHD EDs have decreased by over 1500 in the July-September 2025 quarter compared to the same quarter the previous year.

The number of patients exceeding their estimated date of discharge in ISLHD because they are waiting to access a Commonwealth aged care or National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) placement increased from 101 to 126 in the year to 30 September 2025.

The biggest yearly increases have occurred at some of the state’s largest hospitals:

• Shoalhaven – from 6 to 16
• Wollongong – from 5 to 14

Minister for Health Ryan Park said Commonwealth bed block has surged in NSW hospitals by over 50 per cent in just a single year "and this is simply not sustainable".

“Commonwealth bed block has serious consequences for our state hospitals – from wards, to surgeries that can’t be conducted, to people waiting for beds in the ED.

“I want to thank our health workers for delivering another yearly improvement in ED T2 emergency treatment time performance.

“This is a result of fewer people presenting with semi-urgent and non-urgent conditions, thanks to people contacting Healthdirect and receiving treatment through virtual and urgent care.”

Kiama MP Katelin McInerney is concerned about the older demographic in her electorate.

“Our electorate has a significantly older demographic and no older person should be left languishing in our hospitals due to a shortage of aged care beds.

“We need more investment from the Federal Government to ensure our older residents have access to quality aged care, and I will continue to be an advocate for investment and early planning for these aged care developments and for the investment in new housing for the workforce required to provide these services.”