’Wiped out’: Health workers under extreme pressure as Covid cases surge nationally

Australia is facing a critical health workforce problem with entire teams being ‘wiped out’ as Covid infections surge to new records.

Staff shortages are hitting Australia’s health system as Covid-19 cases spike with a leaked email claiming one Sydney hospital is “extremely vulnerable”.

Australian Medical Association vice-president Chris Moy said he was getting calls from doctors and administrators who were “extremely worried” about rising Covid cases despite fewer people being hospitalised.

He said staff were being furloughed because they are getting sick or are being deemed close contacts.

“What’s happening there is that the staffing situation is becoming pretty critical at the moment,” Dr Moy told ABC on Sunday morning.

This was “right across the board” but NSW was probably worse than other parts of the country, he said.

“I’m hearing about teams getting completely wiped out essentially because they are either contacts or they are positive,” he said.

“What’s happening there is that the staffing situation is becoming pretty critical at the moment,” Dr Moy told ABC on Sunday morning. Picture: Gabriel Polychronis

“This is leading to a real problem and a real squeeze at the moment which is causing extreme stress on very exhausted health workforce,” the doctor explained.

His comments come after the ABC reported a leaked email showed soaring Covid-19 hospitalisations left one of Sydney’s largest hospitals “extremely vulnerable”.

St Vincent’s Hospital executive director Kevin Luong sent an email to staff outlined the impact of low staffing levels, according to the ABC.

In the email he expresses concerns about “critical staff shortages” particularly in nursing and said they were starting to run out of options to maintain safe nursing staffing levels.

The health system is under increasing pressure as Omicron continues to spread and NSW records 18,278 new Covid cases. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Gaye Gerard

“Additionally there is significant concern that there will be a surge in ED [emergency department] activity during the next few days, which may leave us extremely vulnerable and potentially compromise patient care,” Dr Luong wrote in the email.

More than 1000 people were in hospital in NSW hospitals because of Covid-19 on Sunday, according to the state’s health department.

There are now 83 people in intensive care, up from 79.

Covid hospitalisations in NSW have doubled in the week since Christmas and are expected to rise even further.

The state recorded 18,278 new Covid cases on Sunday, while there were 7172 in Victoria and 3587 in Queensland.

Originally published as ’Wiped out’: Health workers under extreme pressure as Covid cases surge nationally