NSW Hospitals: South West Sydney LHD residents forced to commute hours for treatment

Medical professionals are calling for major increases in health services across southwest Sydney after it was revealed patients are forced to drive “hours each day” for treatment.

• South West Sydney LHD residents budgeted $800 less per person than Sydney
• Government to fast-track $7.5b in projects

Southwest Sydney hospital patients suffering from illness or diseases are being forced to commute for hours to access health services due to an “extreme lack of treatment options” available in local hospitals.

Patients requiring health services relating to cardiology, haematology and neurology, as well as gastroenterology and urology, are required to travel to specialist health hubs at Westmead or Randwick for treatment — commuting “more than an hour each way” to access services.

Pictured outside Campbelltown Hospital is Macarthur federal Labor MP Dr Mike Freelander who has hit out over a lack of funding for health services in South West Sydney, telling a NSW Parliamentary inquiry the local health district was in dire need of funding. Picture: Richard Dobson

Macarthur federal Labor MP and veteran Campbelltown Hospital paediatrician, Dr Mike Freelander, said the NSW Government needed to urgently fund more localised specialist outpatient services — which are plagued by extensive wait times — in Sydney’s southwest.

Dr Freelander raised specific concerns around the lack of a “holistic view on how to provide t

THE GREAT DIVIDE — SYDNEY’S HEALTH CRISIS

Part One: south west patients funded $800 less per person than Sydney residents

Part Two: south west patients forced to travel hours for treatment

Part Three: leaders are calling for a new hospital at Aerotropolis

Part Four: 24,000 new medical students needed to fight west’s growth

Part Five: Patients waiting 300 days for surgery in south west Sydney

Part Six: south west teens shock youth suicide numbers as specialist staff numbers revealed

The federal MP, who runs a free clinic for children at Campbelltown Hospital, raised his concerns about health services in southwest Sydney in submission to a NSW Parliamentary inquiry into the current and future health provisions of the already under pressure health district as demand increases for the Western Sydney Aerotropolis.

The Western Sydney Aerotropolis is expected to result in major population increases. Supplied video.

In his submission, Dr Freelander said southwest Sydney was in “dire need” of improvements to the health sector before the population booms by 1.5 million over the next 20 years.

“Our local Emergency Department … is under increasing pressure,” he said.

“The NSW Government’s decision to close the co-located After-hours GP Clinic at Campbelltown Hospital undoubtedly put strain on our already overburdened ED.”

The former head of the Paediatrics Department said southwest Sydney was experiencing a shortage of midwifery services and staffing.

“We are witnessing a complete collapse in outpatient services,” he said. “The state of our healthcare system will only worsen in coming years, with the pressures on our public hospitals ever increasing with the rapid population growth projected.”

Health Minister Brad Hazzard said patient movement to different hospitals decided where the funding goes.

Health Minister Brad Hazzard said it was the patient themselves that “vote with the feet” on where hospital funding goes.

“Hospitals across NSW, and Australia, operate as part of a regional network that have a variety of specialities,” Mr Hazzard told The Daily Telegraph. “Patients choose to go where the experts are located and the funding follows the patient.

“The yearly funding of hospitals is based on the expected medical and surgical activity in each area and it is the same module used right across Australia to guarantee fairness.”

Mr Hazzard said the state had “just five paediatric cardiac surgeons in Randwick and Westmead Childrens’ Hospitals”, while also highlight a 30 per cent increase in funding allocated to southwest Sydney hospitals in the past five years.

“There are extremely specialised doctors with minimal numbers that operate out of just a few centres,” he said. “But patients and GPs decide where they will receive the very best medical or surgical outcomes by the very best.”

Pictured at their home in Glenfield is Tracey Bradney with her kids Ashleigh (14) and Jordan (21). Tracey is forced to commute an hour to Westmead hospital for her children's treatment for Cystic Fibrosis. Picture: Richard Dobson

Glenfield mother Tracey Bradney is one of countless parents urging NSW Health to provide improved localised health services for her three children living with Cystic Fibrosis.

“I have spent the last 23 years driving my three children to appointments, testing and treatment at Westmead Hospital,” Ms Bradney said.

The 49-year-old mother of three said the closure of Campbelltown Paediatrics meant she was forced to drive her three children, Ashley, 14, Jordan, 21, and Mitchell, 23, to Westmead Hospital three or four times per week.

“My children can’t even be tested closure to home because all testing has to be done out of the specialist teams,” she said. “We were lucky enough to get treatment at Westmead, because other families in our community are forced to travel to Randwick for health services.

“When the Aerotropolis is complete and the population increases, we are not going to be able to access services — the health network wouldn’t be able to cope.”

Pictured outside Campbelltown Hospital is Kathleen Warren with her son Cohen Leota-lu (8). Cohen was transferred to Randwick Hospital for surgery, meaning Kathleen had to commute to Sydney. Picture: Richard Dobson

Amber Vale mother, Kathleen Warren, said her seven-year-old son Colin was transferred to Randwick Childrens’ Hospital for surgery after Campbelltown medical staff said there was a lack of resources.

“Campbelltown needs to see an increase in funding to make sure that simple surgeries can be conducted closer to home,” she said.