Susie O’Brien: Dreadful ER wait nothing new for fed-up Victorians

Parents with sick kids and Victorians of all ages know first-hand emergency department waiting times of up to 12 hours have become all too common.

This week parents were told not to turn up to the Royal Children’s Hospital because the waiting time could be up to 12 hours.

This is nothing new.

Parents with sick kids – and people of all ages as well – have been waiting up to 12 hours to be seen at many state-run hospitals for years.

In August my child turned up at the Austin Hospital emergency department after our GP suggested she needed to be admitted.

It was 2pm midweek, so I thought it wouldn’t be too much of a wait.

I was wrong.

The small waiting room already packed.

After waiting half an hour in the queue for triage, we told a nurse about our situation.

She assured us a bed would be found, although we might have to wait.

So, we waited.

On Monday night patients at Royal Children’s Hospital faced wait times of 12 hours as the hospital dealt with “unprecedented demand”. Picture: David Crosling

Around us, old people who had avoided leaving home for two years squeezed in next-to-each other. Some got chairs, some sat on the floor.

The hours wore on. More people arrived, including a man with violent gastro who was vomiting into a bag. Staff replaced his bag and wheeled him around. He was there for at least five hours.

A nurse offered an elderly couple sandwiches and a takeaway coffee after they’d been there for six hours.

After dark, the rest of the hospital hushed in bare corridors and empty rooms. In the waiting room there was no space, no food and no dignity.

Midnight struck. Trolleys lined nearby hallways. Some of the older people waiting for many, many hours were invited to lie down in the full glare of hospital-grade lights.

Everyone was exhausted and afraid to be there, but also too scared to leave. The staff were doing their best but they, too, were tired.

Every few hours we approach the triage desk to find out how much longer. Hang in there, we were told, we’re just waiting on a bed. Can’t be long now.

Eventually, they called our name. We got to see a doctor in a cubicle.

He was surprised we were there and that we had waited so long.

There were no beds, he said. Even if there were, this is not the right place for your child.

He gave us a referral to an outpatient service.

It’s a referral we could have been given by the triage nurse.

It was almost 2am.

Twelve hours’ wait in emergency?

This is nothing new.

This is Victoria.