ASMOF NSW – The Doctors Union says recent reporting on worsening wait times and ambulance ramping at Westmead Hospital confirms what frontline doctors have been telling the NSW Government for the past two years: NSW hospitals are under unacceptable pressure and its medical staff and patients who are paying the price.
The latest Bureau of Health Information data, reported in the Sydney Morning Herald, shows Westmead Hospital’s emergency department is recording some of the worst wait times and ambulance transfer delays in NSW, despite the hospital’s billion-dollar redevelopment.
ASMOF NSW President Dr Nicholas Spooner said the figures showed the crisis was having a deep and severe impact on patient care.
“Doctors have been telling the NSW Government this for many years. You can build new wards, new emergency departments and new operating theatres, but if you do not have enough skilled and experienced doctors, enough nurses, enough staffed beds and enough capacity across the system, patients will still wait too long for care, impacting their well-being.
“These Westmead figures demonstrate exactly what happens when investment in infrastructure is not matched by investment in staffing: a health system under strain. Emergency departments are overcrowded, patients who need admission cannot get beds, ambulance ramping continues and doctors are working under huge pressure.
“As we have always said, clearly, this is a failure of workforce planning. The hospital system does not have enough capacity to meet demand. Urgent action needs to be taken to address it.”
Dr Spooner said claims that NSW was performing better than other states did not reflect the reality experienced by many patients and doctors on the ground.
“Favourable performance metrics should be interpreted with caution - they don’t reflect the reality of patient care faced by doctors on the ground. Processes that improve key performance indicators do not necessarily translate into meaningful improvements in the day-to-day experiences of patients and staff.
“For a patient stuck in a waiting room, for a doctor waiting for a bed, or for an ambulance crew unable to transfer their patient, comparisons with other states are of little comfort.
“The primary question is whether patients in NSW are actually getting timely, safe care when they need it. At Westmead and many other hospitals, the answer is clearly, no.”
Dr Spooner said bed block remained one of the most serious pressure points across the NSW health system.
“When hospitals are full, everything backs up. Patients wait in emergency because there are no ward beds. Ambulances wait outside because emergency departments are overflowing. Planned care is delayed because hospitals are operating beyond capacity.
“Doctors are constantly trying to make safe decisions in unsafe conditions, and they are being asked to hold together a system that is stretched far beyond what is reasonable or sustainable.”
Dr Spooner said Westmead was not an isolated case, but a symptom of a broader workforce and capacity crisis across NSW Health.
“NSW is struggling to recruit and retain doctors because it pays the lowest in the country and subjects doctors to some of the most unsafe and unsustainable working conditions in Australia.
“One in three doctors is considering walking away, not because they do not care, but because they have given everything they can to a system that keeps asking for more while giving them less and less support.
“Doctors are deeply committed to their patients. But dedication cannot be used as a substitute for safe staffing, fair pay, proper workforce planning and enough staffed beds.”
Dr Spooner called on the NSW Government to stop treating hospital pressure as a series of isolated incidents and address the structural causes of the crisis.
“The government knows what the problem is. NSW needs safe working hours, competitive remuneration, proper workforce planning, more staffed beds and serious action to fix bed block.
“Patients deserve more than excuses. Doctors deserve more than being asked to absorb endless pressure.
“The Westmead figures are another warning sign, and the NSW Government must listen to doctors before more patients and more clinicians are pushed past breaking point.”
Contact details:
Darren Rodrigo 0414 783 405
