Westmead Hospital emergency department staff ask NSW Premier for help

Staff at NSW’s largest hospital have called for urgent action to address chronic understaffing inside its emergency department and halt unsafe conditions.

More than 200 staff including nurses and security guards at Westmead Hospital have signed a letter calling for Premier Dominic Perrottet and Health Minister Brad Hazzard to fix chronic understaffing in its emergency department after enduring years of unsafe conditions that worsened during the Covid pandemic.

The NSW Nurses and Midwives’ Association said widespread concerns over unsafe conditions for patients and staff were raised with Western Sydney Local Health District over two years ago, but little had been done to fix them.

That includes 24 nurses with at least five years’ experience quitting over the past year, an insufficient number of doctors and nurses treating patients in the ED and inadequate numbers of resuscitation beds, which forced them to do it behind curtains. At the beginning of the day between 30 and 50 admitted patients are waiting for a hospital bed.

NSW Nurses and Midwives' Association Timothy Blofield and Westmead Hospital calls for a minimum of one nurse for a maximum of three patients.

Last September, crazed patient Jack Solomons assaulted nurse Bec Davis and cracked her skull open after he assaulted a security guard.

“The emergency departments before Delta were busy, particularly with places like Westmead and Liverpool and Delta absolutely smashed them,’’ the union’s public health team manager Michael Whaites said.

“Nurses are speaking up now because they don’t want to go back to ‘normal’.

“Normal isn’t good.’’

Bec Davis, a 31-year-old nurse, underwent surgery after being assaulted by a patient at Westmead in 2020.

Mr Whaites said patient care was also compromised after mental and physical stress caused nurses to quit.

“When people walk away you start to have a junior-heavy workforce and the local health district brings in cheaper, inexperienced nurses,’’ he said.

“What it means is patients can miss out on the world-class care from a hospital like Westmead and when nurses are stretched then they can spend less time with their patients.’’

The union said it took the complaints of the members to the Western Sydney Health District, which has formed a committee to address the problems, but staff want intervention and urgent action from the government.

More than 200 staff at Westmead Hospital’s emergency department have called for urgent action to poor working conditions. Picture: Bianca De Marchi

That includes having a minimum of one nurse to a maximum of three patients and 1:1 nursing care in resuscitation bays.

The union has also called for an extra mental health clinical nurse consultant and psychiatry registrar to be available 24 hours together with calls for a minimum 90 per cent of registered nurses to be skilled in emergency nursing.

The government has referred the issues back to the health district but the nurses union did not rule out industrial action if conditions worsened.

“I’m concerned the level of fatigue and frustration across NSW will put us into a position where the nurses and midwives will have no choice but to take industrial action if the government doesn’t take action,’’ Mr Whaites said.

NSWNMA general secretary Brett Holmes said it was unacceptable the ED of western Sydney’s largest tertiary referral hospital was consistently one of the poorest performers.

“While our members will try to work with local management on this, they are concerned the working groups will not deliver the changes that are needed within a suitable time frame,’’ he said.

NSW Nurses and Midwives' Association Westmead branch secretary Timothy Blofield with nurses at Westmead Hospital this week.

“The Health Minister needs to step in and provide assurances that the local health district will get the additional funding needed to match the growing demand being placed on this facility.’’

Western Sydney Local Health District chief executive Graeme Loy said more resources had been bolstered to the emergency department over the past 18 months including the permanent appointment of a full time nurse for the afternoon shift, a 24/7 ambulance offload nurse, two 24/7 clinical resource nurses to support direct clinical care, an extra clinical nurse educator, equipment officer and five allied health professionals.

“In addition to this, as part of our response to Covid-19 pandemic, Westmead Hospital worked closely with ED staff to modify the environment to improve patient experience and support the safety of our staff,’’ he said.

The raft of measures included creating a separate Covid-19 inpatient unit managed by the ED and Infectious Diseases to assist in improving flow through the ED and opening six Covid-19

wards to increase capacity to flow patients into and declutter the ED.

“Our management have met with the NSW Nurses and Midwives’ Association on a number of occasions to listen to and discuss their concerns and the concerns of their members,’’ Mr Loy said.

“WSLHD will continue to work in a collaborative, constructive manner with our staff so we can continue to deliver the best experiences and outcomes for patients and staff alike.’’

The State Government was contacted for comment.

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