Sick kids face long emergency queues at The Children’s Hospital at Westmead

A senior doctor has warned emergency departments are under “insane stress” with insufficient beds and staff to cope with a “perfect storm” of demand.

Sydney’s hospital emergency departments are so overcrowded that parents were forced to wait outside the front doors of a brand-new ED at a children’s hospital because there wasn’t enough room on the weekend.

And a senior emergency physician at one of Sydney’s teaching hospitals has warned the city’s EDs are under “insane stress” with insufficient beds and staff to cope with a “perfect storm” of demand.

At The Children’s Hospital at Westmead early on Sunday afternoon, the newly opened emergency department was too full to fit all the families with their sick children.

“It was like a war zone,” Maria, the mother of a young girl who was admitted for surgery, said. “It was terrible, parents lined up and down hallways, women with prams, outside the beautiful new glass doors.

“It’s a beautiful new space, new building, but it’s appalling that the waiting room for emergency can’t fit them.

Ambulances have been regularly queuing outside Sydney’s hospitals in recent weeks including outside Sydney’s Royal Prince Alfred last week. Picture: Supplied

“I witnessed a woman saying to staff ‘my child can’t breathe – what are you going to do about it?’

“A child with concussion couldn’t come in, there were babies inside crying with Covid.”

The Children's Hospital at Westmead Emergency Department, suffering from massive demand.

“The staff are dedicated, but they are under-resourced, and I think the public needs to know – it’s not functional and they have lost the plot.”

A senior experienced emergency physician at one of Sydney’s teaching hospitals says he’s been told in one local health district there had been a 33 per cent increase in influenza notifications – with most seen in children under 10 years.

He said a combination of factors, including the loss of up to 30 per cent of staff in some places, influenza, Covid-19 cases “that haven’t gone away”, as well as a catch up on surgery postponed during lockdowns were all contributing to a “perfect storm”.

“It’s a multiplier effect, people are working shifts with anything up to a third of staff away,” he said. “There are pressures in the system to catch up in surgery.

The Children's Hospital at Westmead. Picture: AAP

“There’s no horizontal accommodation, as they call it. On a Monday morning in the emergency department there are quite a few admitted patients waiting for a bed, it’s already overflowing. It’s impossible.

“The staff are demoralised.”

He said over decades the hospital system had less need for beds, with the move to day surgery and walk-in and out operations. But now there are no beds to cope with “winter surges”.

“There are no beds, any spare bed is being used,” he said. “There’s insufficient staff to cope with massive demand.”

NSW Opposition health spokesman Ryan Park says the health system is “buckling”. Picture: NCA NewsWire

The number of patients turning up at The Children’s Hospital at Westmead has risen sharply following the pandemic, going from 2319 in 2018-19 to 4,187 in 2020-21.

Triple-0 calls to NSW Ambulance are also at near record levels, with reports last week showing there are now at least 500 more calls made than before the pandemic.

Ambulances bosses said paramedics were getting caught up in “ramping” where they can’t offload patients because emergency departments are full.

Opposition health spokesman Ryan Park said the Perrottet Government was “good at announcing new buildings but when it comes to delivering services and staff it fails”.

“Our healthcare system is buckling,” Mr Park said.

“People are forced to wait lengthy queues.

“Time and time again this situation arises, people have a new building but they are not given the level of healthcare that we expect.

“These people are not asking for miracles, they are asking to see a clinician and be treated in a reasonable time frame.”

A NSW Health spokeswoman said: “Like all emergency departments across NSW, Sydney Children’s Hospitals Network has seen a significant spike in people presenting with flu-like symptoms to its emergency departments at The Children’s Hospital, Westmead and Sydney Children’s Hospital, Randwick.

“Children are prioritised based on clinical urgency, with the sickest children always seen first. Our staff are making every effort to see all children, as quickly as possible.”