A $500,000 four-bedroom staff accommodation home should then be ready for short-term use by new permanent staff and regular visiting students from the universities of Newcastle, New England, at Armidale, and James Cook, in Queensland.

The hospital’s health service manager Wendy Mason-Jones said the accommodation would be of great benefit to Singleton by helping students doing clinical placement work and enabling the hospital to recruit and retain permanent staff relocating to this area.

The hospital’s second stage upgrade, a $2.5million emergency department reconstruction, was currently before the state government’s heritage office.

Singleton Council planning director Mark Ihlein said he would ask heritage office officials this week when the proposal would return for council consideration.

The application was lodged last November and, depending on whether any issues were raised, could be determined under delegated authority.

“We’ll be chasing it up so it can be determined as soon as possible,” Mr Ihlein said.

Mrs Mason-Jones said the accommodation centre would help overcome problems associated with Singleton’s housing shortage.

“When we recruit staff, nurses and those in medical and allied health, such as social workers, dietitians, psychologists, speech pathologists and occupational therapists they often need somewhere to stay until they can find a permanent place,” Mrs Mason-Jones said.

“It can be impossible to find somewhere in Singleton, for at least the last five years hospital staff have been providing short-term accommodation for new staff and university students.

“University students are rotating here all the time, usually medical students come in twos and threes and nursing students come in groups of four.”

Mrs Mason-Jones said the new accommodation would make Singleton more attractive for staff and students and help them settle socially and professionally.