Staff of major north coast hospital warn emergency department is ‘unsafe’

Two letters written by the Head of Emergency at a major North Coast hospital have warned chronic staffing and bed shortages are putting patients and staff at risk.

Staff at Coffs Harbour Base Hospital warn nursing and bed shortages are leading to unsafe practices.

Patients with acute abdominal pain and serious cardiac issues as well as critically ill children have been left waiting for hours in the emergency department of a major north coast hospital, as staff warn the ED is “unsafe”.

In two letters written to the Mid North Coast Local Health district in March and April this year seen by The Daily Telegraph, the Director of Emergency Medicine at Coffs Harbour Base Hospital Dr Alan Tankel warned an acute shortage of beds and nurses has compromised the safety of patients.

He warned if more beds are not found staff would be forced to treat patients in corridors or in waiting room chairs, where they can’t be adequately monitored.

Dr Tankel wrote that the Coffs Harbour ED often had more than 30 patients waiting for ward beds at any one time, with most of those patients spending more than 24 hours in the ED.

“Without increased funding to support an increase in nursing staff and the opening of sufficient inpatient beds, the safety and quality of care for our patients will be compromised with a very real risk of a serious adverse outcome,” Dr Tankel wrote.

Dr Alan Tankel. Picture: Rob Wright

Hospital staff confirmed adult patients waiting for a ward bed were often treated in the pediatric zone designed for children, which meant sick children were also left waiting for care. According to NSW Health policy children must be treated in a separate area from adult patients for their own safety.

“There are frequently very significant delays in assessing potentially critically ill children and we are frequently forced to manage pediatric patients in adult areas, which is patently inappropriate,” Dr Tankel wrote.

Hospital staff who spoke to The Daily Telegraph said there were multiple beds across the hospital which were “unfunded”, meaning no staff are employed to monitor them so they cannot be used. Of this number, 21 beds sit unused in an empty geriatric unit currently used as storage space because there was no funding for staff to monitor them. Additionally staff reported that funded beds were often “closed’ in other parts of the hospital as there was a shortage of nurses to monitor patients in them.

One senior nurse at the hospital said patients with severe abdominal pains and chest pains had been made to sit in the waiting room for hours, calling the practice “truly dangerous”.

After meeting with local health district staff in April, hospital management were informed no additional beds or nursing staff would be provided, despite the fact Dr Tankel said additional beds that had been promised as part of a hospital upgrade in 2021 had yet to be delivered.

Dr Tankel further notified the health district that there had been four critical incidents since his first letter where patients experienced heart attacks and a stroke but were unable to access monitored beds for up to five hours at critical stages of their illnesses.

NSW Minister for Regional Health Ryan Park. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Nikki Short

NSW Health Minister Ryan Park said 61 beds had been delivered throughout Coffs Harbour hospital since 2018.

“Building a more engaged, capable and supported workforce is a paramount goal for me... especially amid the widespread worker shortages that are challenging health systems nationwide,” he said.

Nurses and Midwives Association Coffs Harbour branch head Amanda Bailey-Derrett said the ED was “no longer safe”. She said the ED nurses were devastated they could not properly care for their patients due to a lack of resources.

“It’s unsafe for both staff and patients,” she said.

“The community needs to know there’s a chance they won’t get the care they need.”

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