{"id":562820,"date":"2026-03-25T07:05:09","date_gmt":"2026-03-25T07:05:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/562820\/"},"modified":"2026-03-25T07:05:09","modified_gmt":"2026-03-25T07:05:09","slug":"concerns-raise-as-new-john-hunter-hospital-takes-shape","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/562820\/","title":{"rendered":"Concerns raise as new John Hunter Hospital takes shape"},"content":{"rendered":"

As the $835 million John Hunter Health and Innovation Precinct<\/a> moves closer to completion, frontline staff warn workforce shortages could limit its full potential.<\/p>\n

John Hunter <\/a>and John Hunter Children\u2019s Hospital NSWNMA Branch president Rosie DeWil admitted the new facility would be a significant upgrade for the region.<\/p>\n

However, there were some doubts moving forward, too.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe new hospital is big and shiny and wonderful as it\u2019s going to be,\u201d Ms DeWil said.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut, we\u2019re not going to be able to staff it to the capacity that it\u2019s going to eventually stretch to.\u201d<\/p>\n

The redevelopment will deliver a major boost to services, including a state-of-the-art emergency department designed to handle more than 95,000 patients each year.<\/p>\n

There\u2019ll be 22 operating theatres, nine interventional suites, expanded maternity services and a 60% increase in intensive care capacity.<\/p>\n

Despite these improvements, Ms Dewil said expectations would need to be managed.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a worry the patients will expect wait times to decrease because the emergency department is bigger or there are more theatres,\u201d she stated.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s not going to be the case straight away.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ms De Wil said transparency around timelines would help manage those expectations as the hospital transitions into the new facility.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think many members are fully aware of the phases required to renovate the existing wards and bring new in-patient beds,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere could be more information for staff and the community about how long those next stages are going to take.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"Rosie De Wil has raised staffing concerns over new John Hunter Hospital. Image: Supplied<\/p>\n

Ms DeWil said staffing pressures were already being felt across the hospital, particularly on wards where ratios had not been fully-implemented.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe wards are under significant stress,\u201d she told the Newcastle Weekly.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve got people leaving to go interstate to Queensland and Victoria where pay is better at quite concerning rates.\u201d<\/p>\n

Many healthcare workers are experiencing burnout, with some taking on additional work to keep up with the rising cost-of-living.<\/p>\n

She said while new graduate nurses were entering the system, it wasn\u2019t enough to offset the loss of experienced staff.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have a large cohort of new graduate nurses but, even then, there\u2019s not enough to staff safely,\u201d Ms DeWil said.<\/p>\n

She also flagged that the hospital\u2019s expanded capacity would be rolled out gradually, not immediately upon opening.<\/p>\n

\u201cIncreased growth and capacity won\u2019t happen for another two-to-three years,\u201d she said<\/p>\n

Despite the challenges, Ms Dewil said staff remained optimistic about what the redevelopment would bring.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s going to be a fantastic facility,\u201d she summed up.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut, recruitment and retaining nurses is critical to making it work.\u201d<\/p>\n

Construction of the new acute services building is expected to be completed in 2026, followed by an operational commissioning period before it opens to patients.<\/p>\n

For more news stories:<\/p>\n

Get all the latest Newcastle news, sport, real estate, entertainment, lifestyle and more delivered straight to your inbox with the\u00a0Newcastle Weekly\u00a0Daily Newsletter.\u00a0Sign up here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"As the $835 million John Hunter Health and Innovation Precinct moves closer to completion, frontline staff warn workforce…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":562821,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[64,63,187669,137,500,277377,277378,107309,10668,277379],"class_list":["post-562820","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-healthcare","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-city-of-newcastle","tag-health","tag-healthcare","tag-john-hunter-childrens-hospital","tag-john-hunter-health-and-innovation-precinct","tag-john-hunter-hospital","tag-newcastle","tag-nswnma-branch-president-rosie-dewil"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/562820","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=562820"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/562820\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/562821"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=562820"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=562820"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=562820"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}