Rouse Hill Hospital emergency ward announcement reaction
The decision to include an emergency unit at the future Rouse Hill Hospital has been welcomed, as some residents share their recent emergency room horror stories. Find out why the ward will be so important to Sydney’s northwest.
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For the best part of a decade, a public hospital at Rouse Hill has been in the works to meet the demands of the booming population in Sydney’s northwest.
With construction to begin on the $300 million Rouse Hill Hospital, to be located on Windsor Rd, by March 2023 at the latest, the urgent need for the vital piece of health infrastructure is clearer than ever before.
In recent days, the Western Sydney Local Health District confirmed the future hospital would include an emergency ward following a petition from Greenway federal Labor MP Michelle Rowland.
The politician previously labelled the decision not to include an emergency department in the original plans as “outrageous”.
The emergency ward announcement comes following increased community angst about access to emergency healthcare in Sydney’s northwest with Mitch Hawk recently posting his horror story on social media.
Mr Hawk fell 2m off a ladder and spent eight hours in the waiting room of Blacktown Hospital’s emergency department for treatment.
Quakers Hill resident and student nurse Alexandra Babic told NewsLocal she had seen from a personal and professional perspective how under-resourced western Sydney hospitals were.
Ms Babic said across the past six years she had presented to hospital numerous times due to chronic health conditions but one horror experience in 2019 stood out.
She was transported to Blacktown Hospital by ambulance before waiting more than 18 hours for a bed to be made available in the intensive care unit.
Shen she arrived she was suffering from significant chest pain, couldn’t speak properly and was getting no relief from her asthma inhaler.
Ms Babic said after being told she would have bloods= drawn, get intravenous (IV) fluids and an urgent heart evaluation, she had to wait four hours for the blood procedure and almost three hours longer to be put on the IV drip.
The Quakers Hill woman then was sent back to the emergency waiting room on the drip and forced to sit on the floor as no chairs were available.
“Over the next few hours, I witnessed the doctors and nurses run off their feet,” she said. “Nursing staff and doctors repeatedly apologised to me and other patients and it was clear they were trying their best.”
A bed was ultimately found after 18 hours and Ms Babic spent the next six days at the hospital.
According to the Bureau of Health Information, emergency patients arriving by ambulance in western Sydney on average have to wait almost twice as long to get admitted to hospital, compared with northern Sydney.
Castle Hill state Liberal MP Ray Williams, who has campaigned for the hospital since 2007, was delighted an emergency ward would be part of the $300 million facility.
“That is wonderful for our growing community. Obviously the $700 million to rebuild Blacktown Hospital helps to offer broad services and certainly Rouse Hill Hospital will add to that for our community,” he said
Greenway federal Labor MP Michelle Rowland launched the petition for the inclusion of the emergency department and described the announcement as an “initial-win”.
“Before this campaign began, the NSW Liberals intended to build a glorified medical centre. However, after a strong community-led campaign, which also included gathering 2567 signatures, we have forced them to reverse course,” she said.
“The recent pandemic and our booming population are stark reminders about the need for better health infrastructure in western Sydney.”
Riverstone state Liberal MP Kevin Conolly said the emergency department was always “anticipated” and Labor politicians claiming credit was “ludicrous”.
“While it was not possible to officially confirm specific inclusions within the scope of the hospital prior to completion of the clinical services planning and public consultation processes, it was always anticipated that an emergency department would be included,” he said.
“Recent confirmation by NSW Health that the project includes an emergency department is neither a departure from earlier stages of the planning nor due to any political stunts by Labor.
“It was simply the logical outcome of the process which has been under way for the last two years.”
Riverstone Chamber of Commerce vice president Warren Kirby said the emergency department announcement was a step in the right direction.
“They (the government) are deliberately building up suburbs of literally hundreds and thousands of families but they aren’t then supplying these areas with adequate basic infrastructure to support their needs,” he said.
NewsLocal asked Western Sydney Local Health District for details on the emergency department, including the number of beds and the ward would open as part of the first stage of works.
A spokeswoman declined to comment.
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