Wollongong Private Hospital CEO Steven Rajcany and staff are celebrating a 10-year milestone. Photo: Ramsay Health Care.
Wollongong Private Hospital’s innovation and performance throughout the past 10 years has helped drive health care within the region and attract leading medical staff, with future expansion hoped to further improve opportunities for Illawarra patients.
Since opening in 2016 the hospital has been the site of more than 1000 cardiac procedures, more than 5000 robotic-assisted procedures across a range of specialties, and more than 9000 births.
Through expanding the number of specialist staff and utilising innovative technologies, the 171-bed private hospital has localised the opportunity for quality care for the Illawarra community and changed perceptions about regional care.
“Something I’ve seen evolve is the fact that we would always be seen as a country hospital in a regional area and that the best procedures and the best specialists were only located in a metropolitan area,” Wollongong Private Hospital CEO Steven Rajcany said.
“But what we’ve seen with the introduction of our services, as we’ve raised clinical capability, there’s a real shift in the general population and their thinking about what’s possible here in the Illawarra; it’s also a shift in key referrers, our general practitioners that refer to specialists, they’ve also seen changes in opportunities for their patients to be treated locally.
“I think now you don’t have to leave the region to receive the best of care, we can confidently say that you can receive almost anything when it comes to medical/surgical treatment here in the Illawarra through our hospital.”
But getting the right people for the job isn’t always an easy process, with ongoing challenges beyond the hospital’s control.
“It’s difficult when you’re starting out because you’re highly scrutinised as a hospital and as a service, so attracting specialist surgeons and high quality clinicians can be difficult, but once you start to gain momentum and you can demonstrate quality outcomes and excellent clinical outcomes then word gets out there and that naturally attracts,” Steven said.
“We need to bring on expert nurses to meet the growth in services but also to support and train newer nurses but I think the challenge within our region is affordability of housing, infrastructure, opportunities for partners as well that come with nurses to ensure that the Wollongong area remains an attractive place to relocate.”
However the wonders of the Illawarra and the hospital’s career progression opportunities and culture help to retain staff.
“When I talk to the staff that have been here for 10 years, it started out really small,” Steven said.
“In Figtree everyone knew everyone; now we’re stretched out across seven floors, there’s over 700 staff but one thing that remains and something that we’ve done well is maintaining a strong culture here.”
The hospital will recognise different departments, teams and community connections as part of a year-long program of anniversary activities to celebrate its 10-year birthday.
And as the facility looks forward, that recognition and retention of dedicated staff will be crucial with expansion plans for surgical offerings and additional services such as an emergency department to meet the needs of the growing Illawarra population.
“Really it’s expanding our footprint, expanding the breadth of our services and then also expanding into new technologies and new innovative procedures as well as participating in research through our clinical trials unit here supported by Ramsay’s research department,” Steven said.
“We have to be persistent, we have to work well with government in terms of the planning department, the health department to ensure that there’s a real focus and an understanding as to what we can offer to the region.
“Ramsay Healthcare is very committed to growth, so I’m confident that with the right business plan and the support from the local community we can get a development here over the line in the next couple of years.”
