By Brittany Busch and Broede Carmody
Patients and staff at one of Melbourne’s oldest hospitals are suffering through sweltering heat on wards, with rooms sleeping up to four patients without airconditioning or fans.
The heat inside The Alfred has climbed over the past week as temperatures hit 34 degrees outside, leaving patients and their families worried about the stifling conditions.
One employee at The Alfred hospital said it had long had cooling issues.Credit: Wayne Taylor
Izeta visited her 100-year-old mother, who is being treated for breathing problems, and said the heat was intense on Wednesday and there was no way to cool down the rooms.
“I started sweating myself, and I can imagine how it is to the patients, to those that are elderly and those that have problems with breathing and lungs,” she said.
Izeta, who asked that her surname not be published for privacy reasons, said her mother was in a four-person room without airconditioning, fans or the ability to open windows to cool down the room overnight.
She said staff had no answers when she asked when the cooling system would be restored.
“No one really is able to say what’s going on or when it’s going to be fixed ... Someone said that’s not in their pay grade to think about that,” she said.
The Alfred apologised on Wednesday for the recent heat problems.
“We do apologise to any patients or visitors who may find it a little warmer than usual in some of our buildings – particularly during the current hot weather,” a spokesperson said, adding there had been no impact to clinical services.
“Engineers are continuing to work on the system to restore it to its highest performance.”
The hospital apologised for the air conditioning problem.Credit: Getty Images
One Alfred employee, who spoke to The Age on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to speak publicly, said the building in question had long had issues with ambient heat, but it had been particularly bad over the past few days.
“The problem isn’t new. It’s ageing infrastructure,” the employee said.
“It’s a brick building. There’s no vegetation, so once the building heats up, it takes days to cool down. In past summers, we’ve had bone cement go off [in storage].”
The employee said operating theatres would have been prioritised for cooling.
“If the humidity is too high [in theatre], we can’t maintain the sterility of instruments. That’s why they’d be sending cool air to the operating theatre,” they said “But I can understand the frustration of staff and patients sitting in waiting rooms. It’s bloody hot.”
A second Alfred employee, also speaking anonymously, said the theatres were decades old and “well due” for a rebuild.
One Labor source, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said: “The Alfred is ageing and needs a rebuild.”
A government spokesperson said it had invested an extra $233 million into the hospital in the current budget for upgrades, including to the cooling and heating plant.
Opposition health spokeswoman Georgie Crozier said The Alfred needed urgent infrastructure funding as a major tertiary hospital.
“This is what happens when the budget is stuffed. Essential equipment like air conditioning to support our health services doesn’t become a priority. Labor’s priorities are all wrong. Under Jacinta Allan, Labor’s focus is on the [Suburban Rail Loop] instead of maintaining vital health services like The Alfred.”
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