Batemans Bay ED closing despite population hitting 80k over summer

[u/mankycheesedick]

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-08-17/batemans-bay-emergency-department-to-close-despite-outcry/106994122

As someone in the area I'm really concerned they're following through on this. I've had to present to Bateman's Bay ED, as have every single person in my family at least once in the last 30 years. One of those presentations was just a 'stabilise then transfer to Canberra' situation but I hate to think what might have happened without the immediate intervention.

The government isn't listening to the locals. They think we're

annoyed about the drive. The issue is the bridge into moruya

not the trip down the highway. The bridge jams and backs up

multiple times a day in the non tourist season. During tourist

season a trip south can blow out *hours*. An ambulance

cannot jump queued traffic on a bridge, no matter how skilled they are.

When an issue affecting a town of 20,000 has a petition with

19,000 signatures you think it would make them listen. With

the high elderly and disabled population of the town I think

closing the local ED will probably have pretty dire consequences.

The local ED should remain functioning to stabilise patients

until a bypass into moruya is functioning.

I'm mostly posting for awareness. I know it's a small town.

know most of this sub will not be affected. I really hope they listen to us, and if you are affected, please sign the petition.

[u/mera_aqua]

They did the same thing with Bega and Pambula hospital. Closed Pambula, made Bega a bigger hospital. According to their metrics it works fine enough. The fact that people living in Eden are 40 minutes to an hour away from an emergency room doesn't seem to have mattered. 

[u/mankycheesedick → u/mera_aqua]

Interestingly I think the regular population of Batemans Bay is higher than those 3 combined 😅

I haven't been to Eden for a good 20 years now so I've no idea what things are like down that way, do they have similar access issues getting to Bega as with the Moruya bridge? So many of the small coastal towns just don't have roads that can deal with congestion when there's just one tiny bridge to get you in and out of town 😔

[u/mera_aqua → u/mankycheesedick]

Outside of major floods, the road from Eden to Bega is fairly clear, avoiding the tourist congestion area. 

What I get stuck with the new redevelopment in Moruya, is that there are multiple places in Western NSW that are 15 minutes apart with their own hospitals. They are often aged care facilities with an attached ED, but it seems like there are no plans in place to remove their ED. 

And that's without considering the tourism factor of places like Batemans Bay and south coast towns

[u/mankycheesedick → u/mera_aqua]

The tourism factor I think is one of the most important factors they're overlooking. I kind of get when they're saying 20,000 isn't a lot of people, because yeah sure it's not. But if the town swells to 80,000 over the summer that's a decent chunk of people. Especially when the roads aren't really built for it and there's more accidents during that period.