The Fairy Meadow community will soon receive its own ambulance station under the NSW Government’s $232 million Rural Ambulance Infrastructure Reconfiguration (RAIR) program.

Minister for Health Brad Hazzard said Fairy Meadow was identified as the ideal location to base a new station to provide the best ambulance coverage across the Illawarra region, now and in the future.

“This is a first for Fairy Meadow, providing paramedics with a modern facility with state-of-the-art equipment to help them carry out their vital job of saving lives in the local Illawarra communities,” Mr Hazzard said.

“The next step will be choosing the best site in Fairy Meadow to build the ambulance station. To do this we have expert help from tried and tested international software which maps Triple Zero calls.”

NSW Ambulance Assistant Commissioner Clare Lorenzen said the announcement was another welcome NSW Government initiative for regional and rural communities.

“Operating from a new base in Fairy Meadow, our local paramedics will be well positioned to continue to provide the best possible high-quality emergency medical care to residents of local communities,” Ms Lorenzen said.

“The additional ambulance service in Fairy Meadow will support the Bulli and Wollongong ambulance stations to strengthen the coverage of the Illawarra region.”

The RAIR program is the single largest investment in regional NSW Ambulance’s 126-year history, with 24 new or upgraded ambulance stations already delivered or under construction as part of the $132 million Stage 1 program. The new station for the Illawarra community is part of the NSW Government’s additional $100 million investment in Stage 2 of the RAIR program.

In 2020-21, the NSW Government is investing more than $1 billion in services and capital works for NSW Ambulance.

This includes $27 million of funding for 180 new NSW Ambulance staff across NSW, as part of the third tranche of the June 2018 commitment to recruit 750 additional paramedic and control centre staff over four years.