Sick kids face mammoth wait times at Royal Children’s Hospital in Melbourne

Parents of sick kids were warned of 12-hour waits at Melbourne’s Royal Children’s Hospital as the state’s health system continues to buckle.

The Royal Children’s Hospital is working to clear a backlog of sick patients after parents were warned of 12-hour wait times on Monday night.

The hospital said in a statement on Monday evening it was dealing with more than 90 patients in its emergency department.

Hospital chief executive Bernadette McDonald said more than 335 children presented for treatment at the hospital during the period.

“Unfortunately, the waiting room is not supposed to hold quite as many patients as it had last night,” Ms McDonald told ABC.

“The longest waiting time we had was about 12 hours.”

However, by Tuesday morning the hospital’s wait times had returned to “normal” but it warned “our staff are often busy, and waiting times around an hour are common”.

The Royal Children's Hospital in Melbourne is under extreme pressure Picture: NCA NewsWire / David Crosling

“We normally see some sort of decrease this time of year coming into Christmas but that is not happening,” Ms McDonald said.

“We would never turn anybody away, I just need to make that really clear. If people come to our emergency department, we will treat them.

“It does unfortunately mean that when we have the challenges like last night, some people who are less clinically urgent will have to wait a long time.”

The Royal Children's Hospital has returned to ‘normal’ patient numbers. Picture: NCA NewsWire / David Crosling

Anthony Albanese said parents should consider other medical options before bringing their kids to the hospital.

“We know that there is real pressure on our healthcare system, and we know that part of that is problems with primary health care,” the Prime Minister said.

“Things like a kid with a broken arm or a child who needs assistance and doesn’t really need to be in an emergency department of the local hospital.”

The situation forced the hospital to call in staff on their days off to assist with sick patients.

Originally published as Sick kids face mammoth wait times at Royal Children’s Hospital in Melbourne