Ambulance officers told to avoid Blacktown Hospital because of bed shortages, paramedics union says

AMBULANCE crews were told to bypass Blacktown Hospital on Thursday night because there were no beds available, the union representing paramedics said.

Paramedics say bed blocking or ambulance ramping is a problem at Blacktown. Picture: Stewart McLean.

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AMBULANCE crews were told to bypass Blacktown Hospital on Thursday night because there were no beds available, the union representing paramedics said.

The Australian Paramedics’ Association’s western Sydney liaison officer Liu Bianchi said ambulance crews were redirected to other hospitals for at least two hours.

“They didn’t want any ambulances coming to Blacktown because it was at a critical point, it was at capacity,” she said.

“There was no more ability for the hospital to take patients at that time.”

Ms Bianchi, who is a paramedic in the Richmond area, said for those crews that managed to get to Blacktown Hospital on Thursday night there were delays transferring patients to beds.

She said one ambulance crew waited more than two hours with a patient because no bed was available.

Ms Bianchi said bed blocking — which happens when there is a lack of hospital beds — was a common problem at the hospital.

“The crews have said it’s not unusual to be waiting for an hour with a patient,” she said.

“That has become the norm.”

Artist's impressions of stage two of Blacktown Hospital's redevelopment.

Blacktown Hospital general manager Sue Anne Redmond said Blacktown Hospital was experiencing some pressures due to an increase in gastroenteritis and flu presentations.

“NSW Ambulance, WSLHD (Western Sydney Local Health District) and the Ministry of Health were in constant communication on Thursday to manage this increase in demand for care,” she said.

“Despite occasional surges in demand, WSLD and including Blacktown Hospital Transfer of Care Performance has seen significant improvements in the past year.”

Ms Redmond said stage two of Blacktown Hospital’s redevelopment would increase the amount of beds.

Australian Paramedics’ Association president Steve Pearce said bed blocking could cause life threatening delays because out-of-area crews were forced to respond to calls while local crews sat idle caring for patients.

Mr Pearce said he expected the problem to get worse when flu season causes a spike in people clogging up emergency service departments.

“Clearly whatever process they have at the hospital for offloading ambulances aren’t working,” he said.

“Ambulances are still being delayed and aren’t able to get out on the road where they need to be.

“Every winter there’s an influx of patients but we were told there were processes in place to meet that surge in demand.”

Blacktown Hospital’s emergency department is often at capacity, says the paramedics union.

He said NSW Ambulance Service previously used off- duty paramedics to relieve crews stuck in bed block at hospitals, but this practise was discontinued earlier this year.

Susan Pearce from Office of the Deputy Secretary, System Purchasing and Performance, said for the peak winter period NSW Ambulance had incorporated a new position in the control centre to work with hospitals.

The transitional patient flow co-ordinator uses information from paramedics and other sources to ensure patients “are appropriately allocated to hospitals, sensibly smoothing patient flow by reducing the number of ambulance patients allocated to the hospital in their hourly threshold for a short period of time”.

Flu season puts pressure on ED visits

Western Sydney has been reporting the highest number of influenza cases in the state

There were 150 cases in the week ending July 17

It has led to an increase in emergency department visits, which are still expected to rise further this month

There have been 26 outbreaks in the state, which have been linked to 26 deaths