Sick babies put in storerooms as crib shortage grips hospital

Critically ill newborns are being treated in hospital storerooms, offices and even a grieving room where families spend the last hours with dying newborns because of a neonatal bed crisis at a hospital intensive care unit in Sydney’s west.

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Critically ill babies are being shunted to storerooms, offices and even a “grieving room” at a major Sydney hospital as it struggles with the demands of the city’s rapidly growing population.

Nurses at Westmead Neonatal Intensive Care Unit are turning to the makeshift “overflow” areas to accommodate children needing specialist attention as they grapple with space and staffing issues that have been increasing for the past five years.

It is understood the NICU has 15 fully funded cots but is being forced to use up to five extra overflow cots.

In the case of the storeroom, the space is so cramped it can only take two cots while the equipment attached to the cots is left outside.

Cots are also being placed in a “grieving room” usually set aside for families to spend final hours with their dying children, and also around the nurses’ station area.

Babies at the Westmead Neonatal Intensive Care Unit are being places in makeshift nurseries due to lack of cot space. Picture: iStock

On one occasion this year, a jaundiced baby requiring phototherapy was placed in a cot in an office.

While most hospitals will seek to transfer a baby during overflow periods, a source said this was not possible when other hospitals were experiencing similar problems.

At other times, parents request their baby remain in the overcrowded unit rather than move to a hospital further away.

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The source said the unit operated with a ratio of about one nurse per baby, although existing resources became stretched when extra overflow cots were put into use.

The source said nurses ensured each baby received the care needed, but the job of around-the-clock monitoring was made difficult with cots placed in areas outside the NICU.

Health NSW said the unit is one of the largest in the state, with more than 1500 babies admitted each year from both the city and the bush.

The NSW Nurses and Midwives’ Association confirmed resources were “an issue”.

Association Assistant General Secretary Judith Kiejda said the union was working on a staffing plan to address issues at Westmead.

“The association is working on a staffing plan that will address systemic staffing issues, which includes the NICU,” she said.

“What we really need is a more transparent ratios system across all NSW hospitals to deliver safer care to patients.”

The NICU at Westmead Hospital has 15 fully funded cots. Picture: Generic image/iStock

Westmead Hospital nursing director Kate Hackett said 2018 had seen an increase in the birth of extreme premature infants “and those requiring complex surgery”, resulting in the hospital starting a review of how the unit was laid out.

“Safe patient care is always our utmost priority,” she said.

“So that we can better use our space and resources in response to the changing healthcare requirements and growing demand, an architectural review has commenced to review the layout of our NICU.”

Ms Hackett said a recruitment campaign was also underway to increase nursing staff, with the hospital to work closely with the union to ensure “we are effectively responding to the increasing demand”.

State opposition health spokesman Walt Secord called on the state government to properly fund the unit “rather than splurging billions on sporting stadiums”.

“The Berejiklian government has the wrong priorities,” he said.

“They have vulnerable babies at Australia’s pre-eminent children’s hospital being put in storerooms due to a lack of proper funding — which is not keeping pace with the NSW baby boom.”

Originally published as Sick babies put in storerooms as crib shortage grips hospital