Network Hospitals

The Illawarra Network of teaching hospitals comprises four Hospitals: Wollongong Hospital, Bulli Hospital, Port Kembla Hospital and Shellharbour Hospital.

Wollongong Hospital

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Wollongong Hospital has a bed base of more than 500 and is a RACP Level 3 Teaching Hospital closely affiliated with the University of Wollongong and the Illawarra Health and Medical Research Institute. An academic suite located at Wollongong Hospital supports both the Graduate School of Medicine and School of Nursing and Midwifery at the University.

Wollongong Hospital is the Illawarra and Shoalhaven’s major referral and teaching hospital. The campus, which incorporates the Illawarra Regional Cancer Care Centre, provides a comprehensive range of inpatient, outpatient and community-based services.

Wollongong Hospital is the largest of the Illawarra Shoalhaven Local Health District’s nine hospitals, treating more than 47,000 patients annually. It is the region’s tertiary referral hospital which means it has the capacity to treat specialist and complex cases. The Emergency Department is one of the busiest in New South Wales with around 62,000 presentations each year.

Wollongong Hospital services include: Emergency Department, Dialysis Unit, Intensive Care, Mental Health, Paediatrics, Obstetrics & Gynaecology, Neonatal, General Surgery, Orthopaedic surgery, Neurosurgery, Radiology (including MRI), Pathology, Plastic Surgery, Nuclear Medicine (including PET scanner), Chest Clinic, Cardiac Diagnostics, Allied Health Services, the Cancer Care Centre and the new Illawarra Elective Surgical Services centre.

Wollongong Hospital is unique as a level 3 teaching hospital in NSW in that it has 4 specialist General Medicine units. The variety of General Medical patients allow registrars to see a broad spectrum of diseases whilst also learning to manage the complex interactions between patients many comorbidities.  This is excellent preparation for future life as a physician as well as the RACP clinical exam.  Wollongong Hospital is accredited as a RACP Level 3 Teaching Hospital until February 2024.

Illawarra Network BPT Rotations at Wollongong Hospital (RACP Level 3)

Sub-speciality Designation Positions per term
Acute Medicine (MAU) Core 2
Cardiology Core 2
Endocrinology Core 1
Gastroenterology Core 1
General Medicine Core 4
Geriatrics Core 2
Haematology Core 2
ICU Core 1
Infectious Diseases Core 1
Neurology Core 2
Medical Oncology Core 2
Renal Core 2
Respiratory
Core 2
Nights/Relief Non-core 9
Term descriptions and further information available from MESO for all IMN trainees

Shellharbour Hospital

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Shellharbour Hospital is located 24km south of Wollongong in the Illawarra and Shoalhaven Local Health District. The hospital was officially opened in 1988 and is a busy acute care facility which provides emergency services, elective surgical services, general medical, antenatal and primary family health care, satellite renal dialysis and adolescent and adult mental health services on site. The general hospital has 87 medical, surgical and special care in-patient beds, and an 8 bed day surgery unit, in addition to 69 mental health in-patient beds.

The busy Emergency Department accommodates 21 treatment spaces in total, and averages around 24,000 presentations annually. The Operating Suite performs approximately 2,300 procedures each year, comprising mainly low risk general, laparoscopic, gynaecological, ophthalmic, dental and minor orthopaedic surgery.

Planning has commenced for the future redevelopment of the Shellharbour Hospital site, to transform Shellharbour Hospital into a major metropolitan hospital for the Southern Illawarra. The Shellharbour Hospital Redevelopment represents a strategic clinical service reconfiguration and capital development Project for the Illawarra Shoalhaven Local Health District, and in particular for the Southern Illawarra catchment.

There are four medical units at Shellharbour, staffed by eight Physicians, all with sub-speciality interest. The Shellharbour Hospital is a shared teaching site with the East Coast Medical Network of Basic Physician Training.  Each term, the IMN will send two trainees to General Medicine and two trainees to Geriatric Medicine at Shellharbour Hospital.  Shellharbour Hospital is accredited as an RACP Level 1 Teaching Hospital until February 2023.

Sub-speciality Designation Positions per term
General Medicine Core 4
Geriatric Medicine Core 2
Term descriptions and further information available from MESO for all IMN trainees

Port Kembla Hospital

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Port Kembla Hospital is a specialist referral hospital for Rehabilitation, Aged Care and Palliative Care for the Illawarra Shoalhaven Local Health District. It provides care to almost eight thousand patients every year via a comprehensive range of inpatient, outpatient and community services as well as an occupational rehabilitation unit. Other services based at Port Kembla include a Sexual Health Clinic, Drug & Alcohol service, Illawarra Brain Injury Service (IBIS), Health Care Interpreter Service and the Hillview Childcare Service.

Port Kembla Hospital is closely affiliated with the University of Wollongong and TAFE, supporting all health related disciplines.

Trainees will undertake a non-core rotation in rehabilitation medicine that will involve 2 clinics a week in the day hospital and one clinic a fortnight seeing neurology rehabilitation patients.  Port Kembla District Hospital is accredited as a RACP secondment site for the Illawarra Medical Network (IMN) until February 2021.

Sub-speciality Designation Positions per term
Rehabilitation Medicine Non-core 1
Term descriptions and further information available from MESO for all IMN trainees

Bulli Hospital

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Bulli Hospital was established in 1893 and is located 11 km north of Wollongong. The Hospital provides a combination of inpatient, outpatient and community health services. The hospital mainly provides multidisciplinary geriatric services. The hospital is comprised of a 30 bed Geriatric Ward (Syd Atkins Ward) and a 22 bed dementia specific ward (Roper Ward) which treats around 2,000 patients every year.

The Geriatric Outpatient Therapy Unit (GOTU), operating from the Hospital’s Rose Cottage provides an outpatient program to help older people with chronic conditions better manage their health and avoid hospital admissions where possible. The program uses a multi-disciplinary team of clinicians to provide a comprehensive assessment of the participants' physical, cognitive and functional ability as well as support and advice to promote independent living away from a hospital setting.
Elective day only ear nose and throat (ENT) surgical services are also provided at Bulli and there is an Emergency Primary Health Care Centre in operation between 7am – 10pm every day.  

The principle objectives of a term in Geriatric Medicine is to develop knowledge acquired during the undergraduate years and convert this into the skills of diagnosis and management of the frail elderly medical patient or those who have presented initially with surgical or orthopaedic problems and have ongoing geriatric medical needs. The emphasis is to understand the undifferentiated nature of presentation of illness in the elderly. To understand that multiple physical and psychiatric diagnoses may co-exist and will impact on each disease process.  Bulli District Hospital is accredited as a RACP secondment site for the Illawarra Medical Network (IMN) until February 2024.

Sub-speciality Designation Positions per term
Geratric Medicine Core 1
Term descriptions and further information available from MESO for all IMN trainees

The University of Wollongong

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The University of Wollongong (UOW) is about connecting bright minds through learning and research, to shape the world we live in. They are about world-class education, empowering people with knowledge, and creating job opportunities. The UOW School of Medicine enjoys an excellent reputation and is ranked in the top 350 institutions in the world in the subject field of Medicine. They are a multidisciplinary school with a range of undergraduate and postgraduate course offerings in the fields of Indigenous Health, Medical and Exercise Science, Medicine and Nutrition.

They are committed to designing educational experiences that are engaging, challenging and relevant for our students for the benefit of our local, national and global communities. The high standards of academic rigour, breadth of knowledge across the health spectrum and a supportive community ensure that graduates have the skills to start tackling the most challenging issues in health.

UOW is ranked in the Top 2% of universities in the world. It is one of the best modern universities in the world that has gained 5 star rating.

The IMN have a continuing relationship with UOW. Many of our local clinicians provide teaching and research services at the University in conjunction with their hospital appointments. Several of our current BPT trainees are UOW graduates and have continued to flourish in their training.

Advanced training positions with the Illawarra

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The IMN recognises the importance of career progression from BPT to Advanced Training, and consistently has had all BPT successfully find positions in the specialty of their choice. This has included trainees successfully attain training in highly competitive specialties with central state-wide recruitment both within NSW and interstate.

The currently available RACP Advanced Training Opportunities at The Wollongong Hospital (Northern Illawarra Hub of the Illawarra Shoalhaven Local Health District) include:

Division/Hub Department Department Head
Aged Care & Palliative Care Geriatrics Prof Jan Potter
  Palliative Care Dr Zivai Nangati
Cancer Care Haematology Prof Peter Presgrave
  Medical Oncology Dr Lorraine Chantrill
Medicine Cardiology Dr Astin Lee
  Endocrinology Dr Alexia Pape
  Gastroenterology Dr Jenny McDonald
  General Medicine Prof Wilf Yeo
  Infectious Diseases Assoc Prof Spiros Miyakis
  Neurology Dr Karen Fuller
  Renal Dr Ajay Purushottam
  Respiratory Assoc Prof Andrew Jones
  Rheumatology Assoc ProfJohn Riordan
Nuclear Medicine Nuclear Medicine Assoc Prof Barry Elison

Additional RACP Advanced Training positions are also available in Nowra at the Shoalhaven District Memorial Hospital (the Southern Illawarra Hub of the Illawarra Shoalhaven Local Health District).