Tamworth Hospital patients flee after agonising wait for surgery

The severe doctor shortage in country towns is leaving patients in pain and in need of surgery, languishing in hospital wards for weeks while they wait for a surgeon.

Julie Woods was left untreated in a country hospital for 12 days with a badly fractured shoulder and had to be “broken out” by her daughter and driven five hours to find a surgeon who would help her.

In a stark example of the chronic doctor shortage in rural and regional NSW, the Boggabri woman lay helpless while four scheduled surgeries were cancelled due to a lack of surgeons.

Her daughter finally took her out of Tamworth Hospital and drove her to Newcastle for surgery.

“I was at work and slipped head over Charlie and fractured my shoulder in three places, and dislocated it,” the 69-year-old said.

“I was admitted upstairs and for 12 days I laid there with absolutely no treatment. They starved me four times, saying we’re going to operate tomorrow and, 20 minutes before the operation, they said it was not going to happen. Four times, four days in a row.

Julie Woods fractured her shoulder in three places.

“I threatened to jump out the window because I thought I’d get more attention. That’s how far it got — but I was laying there and no one was doing anything.”

Like many regional hospitals, Tamworth relies on fly-in, fly-out locums.

Julie Woods is now recovering at her daughter’s home after surgery in another hospital.

“The first week, they said he’s gone and you’ll have to wait for him to come back a week later,” she said.

“So he came back and he still didn’t operate. My daughter drove up from Maitland and sat on my bed for 12 days and, if she hadn’t have been there, there were times I wouldn’t have been dressed, showered, looked after.

“There wasn’t enough nurses, (the ones working) were brilliant but there were not enough of them and they were relying on her to help me get up and get to the shower as I couldn’t get in and out of by myself.”

Ms Woods said her daughter rang around specialists and found one in Newcastle who was willing to operate.

Julie Woods with daughters Stephanie Friel-Hancock and DeSilva Leverett, who took her out of hospital and drove her five hours get surgery.

“We drove from Tamworth to Lingard Private in Merewether, Newcastle, for me to have an operation. It took five hours and I felt every bump,” she said.

The private option was only available because the fees were covered by WorkCover, she said.

“The specialist said I was in danger of the shoulder being frozen into place because I hadn’t received any treatment on it, and it made it more difficult for him,” she said.

Ms Woods’ experience is not a one-off.

On the same ward, 70-year-old Barbara Swain from Gunnedah spent six days with no surgery for a badly broken ankle before her son organised her transport to a Lake Macquarie private hospital.

“I had to go to the orthopaedic ward with two men who had been there two to three weeks and still had not had their operation. There was a hole in the mattress, my bum was so sore, no one did anything about it,” she said.

“They wheeled me down to the bathroom and left me there and I passed out and woke up with a dozen people around me. It was just terrible.

“They couldn’t promise me anything and I said I’m not staying. A week later, I rang my son and said I’m signing myself out and we need to go elsewhere.”

Ms Swain was transferred to a private hospital in Lake Macquarie to get her surgery eight days after the break.

Tamworth-based secretary of the Rural Doctors Association Dr Ian Kamerman said the dire situation in regional hospitals was multifaceted but money was at the heart of it.

“It’s appalling. There are multiple reasons this is happening. We have had years of neglect, (but) a major problem right now is the state government’s wages policy,” he said.

“Due to the wages cap, the remuneration is less than other states, so we have junior doctors and specialists going to other states. Why would you accept less pay for the same work?

“Conversely, because they are so short, they are paying a fortune for locums.

“Why would you want a permanent position when you get paid a fortune as a locum.”

Dr Kamerman said locums earn more than $3000 a day. It is estimated the bill for locums in NSW is more than $120 million annually.

A recent NSW Parliamentary inquiry heard that some rural hospitals were operating without doctors and cleaning staff, and cooks were being left to look after patients.