Covid patients being transported to private facilities in NSW

NSW Health has reverted to management strategies deployed at the height of the Delta outbreak last year.

Public hospital Covid-19 ­patients are being transported to private facilities across the state as NSW Health reverts to management strategies deployed at the height of the Delta outbreak last year.

Ambulances are also being directed away from hospitals that are bursting to the brim with patients — taking cases to facilities further across the state for treatment.

It comes as chief health officer Dr Kerry Chant revealed that some of the young people who died from the virus had the Omicron strain.

“I can confirm that some of the deaths in younger people have been, I am aware, associated with Omicron,” she said.

Another 18 people died as NSW recorded 20,293 new infections on Monday, while 2030 people were in hospital and 159 in intensive care.

Ambulance officers and police outside the Royal Prince Alfred Hospital main entrance on Monday, January 10. Picture: Jenny Evans/Getty Images

An ambulance unloads at Royal Prince Alfred Hospital on Monday, January 10. Picture: Jenny Evans/Getty Images

NSW Health deputy secretary Susan Pearce revealed that Westmead and Nepean hospitals were among those where patients had been removed to ease the pressure on healthcare workers.

“During Delta, the same thing applied. Some of our western Sydney hospitals for example used beds in some of the private hospitals in their surrounds. This should not be seen as a failure of the public hospital system,” she said.

“The reduction in elective surgery means the capacity in our hospitals and in private hos­pitals exists, so it’s a sensible approach to move people rather than waiting until the hospital exceeds its capacity.”

Ms Pearce said the approach was “pre-emptive” to manage the growing cases.

However, in September last year, then premier Gladys Berejiklian warned constituents of witnessing circumstances never seen before when describing the practises being used now.

“When I say images of things we’ve not seen before, it means … patients perhaps having to be taken to a hospital that might be quite a distance away from where they live,” she said on September 20.

NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet speaks to the Panagopailos family as they await their children’s vaccination at the Sydney Children’s Hospital in Randwick on Monday, January 10. Picture: AAP Image/Bianca De Marchi

NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet congratulates a young boy after he received a Covid vaccination at the Sydney Children’s Hospital in Randwick. Picture: AAP Image/Bianca De Marchi

On the weekend, patients were moved from Westmead Hospital in Sydney’s west to Royal North Shore 35 minutes away. The number of transported patients was “in the 10s” and “not the 100s”, according to Ms Pearce who said about 12 to 16 patients were moved from Nepean Hospital but did not provide a breakdown of every facility.

“This is the plan for all of our major metropolitan hospitals … these are often general ward patients not ICU,” Dr Pearce said. “It’s a relief valve that exists and it is the way we will continue to manage.”

There are 471 patients in ICU beds across NSW for all illnesses, including Covid, and Ms Pearce said that although ICUs in western and southwestern Sydney were under a lot of pressure, the system was “well within capacity”.

Despite the growing hospitalisations, Dr Chant warned young Covid patients who were suffering from breathlessness or dizziness to get help as they were “early warning signs” of serious illness.