However,he acknowledged the time period covered by the report coincided with high demand for GPs,as well as a move away from bulk-billing,which probably resulted in more emergency attendances.
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The Australian Medical Association’s NSW president Dr Michael Bonning agreed these patients could be seen “by a reasonably resourced GP”,noting these types of patients were thefocus of urgent care clinics recently announced by state and federal governments.
“There’s only so much corridor space you’ve got,” said Wayne Varndell,NSW president of the College of Emergency Nursing Australasia,noting patients left in emergency rooms – particularly in outdoor waiting spaces – can feel neglected,despite NSW Health employing “patient experience officers” for some waiting rooms.
“The staffing is highly variable,” he said.
Emergency department nurses at Blacktown and Westmead hospitals walked off the job earlier this year due to concern about safe staffing. NSW Nurses and Midwives Association general secretary Shaye Candish said the number of patients leaving emergency without completing their treatment was a “shameful” reflection on the state’s health system,particularly if one in five were returning within days.
NSW Ambulance received 375,215 calls between April and June,just shy of the highest-ever number recorded the previous quarter. Half of emergency patients waited more than 16 minutes for an ambulance,the longest time since reporting started in 2010.
While the data calls attention to concerns raised by paramedics’ unions about increased “ramping” outside of emergency departments,delaying the entry of patients to the department,it also highlighted issues with moving patients from emergency to a more appropriate ward,a phenomenon known as “bed block”.
In a budget estimates hearing last week,NSW Health secretary Susan Pearce revealed more than 630 patients in the state’s hospitals were “beyond their expected date of discharge”:only taking up a hospital bed because they could not be transferred to aged care or NDIS care.
“The public health system takes its role very seriously in the care for all community. We are a safety net for a lot of people,” Pearce told the hearing,adding the department was working with the federal government to address the issue.
NSW Labor health spokesperson Ryan Park said waiting hours for an ambulance or for a bed in hospital was “not fair on both patients and hardworking healthcare workers”.
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At Earlwood in early August,Noeline Ticchio refrained from driving her breathless 94-year-old father-in-law,who had heart failure,to Canterbury Hospital knowing he would have to sit in the hospital’s outside waiting area.
After his case was classed as non-urgent,the family instead waited more than three hours for an ambulance. Once he arrived at emergency,he waited more than 18 hours for a bed in a ward.
“Our elderly deserve better at this stage of their lives,” Ticchio said. Park said cases like the family’s occurred “all too often”,accusing the state government of “understaffing and underinvesting” in hospitals.
In a statement,NSW Health said the state government was investing a record $33 billion in health as part of the 2022-23 budget and a record 10,148 full-time equivalent staff would be recruited to hospitals and health services across NSW over four years.
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