Sick babies treated in corridors and storerooms as major Sydney hospital grapples with chronic underfunding

Sick babies are at risk thanks to chronic underfunding, overcrowding and understaffing, whistleblower nurses at Westmead’s Neonatal Intensive care unit say.

Nurses have blown the whistle on conditions at the neonatal intensive care unit in The Children's Hospital at Westmead. They are so under resourced they have been forced to care for critically ill babies in a store room. Picture: Supplied

Critically ill children are being treated in storerooms and in corridors at a major Sydney hospital, as staff struggle to keep up with an influx of babies despite a lack of resources.

Nurses working in the Westmead Hospital Neonatal Intensive care unit (NICU) have blown the whistle on conditions in the unit, which has resulted in babies being double or triple parked in proximity to one another.

Due to the high needs and very low immune systems of premature babies, there should ideally be a ratio of one nurse to every baby.

Hospital staff say the unit is so under-resourced that nurses often care for up to three babies a shift, with cribs being placed closer together than clinically recommended.

The Daily Telegraph reported in 2018 that the unit was using a tiny storeroom to care for sick babies due to a lack of space.

The small storeroom where babies are still treated. Picture: Supplied

In response, hospital authorities opted to remove some of the shelving instead of increasing resources. Seven years later that same storeroom is still being used to house critically ill babies.

Nurses union member and Westmead neonatal nurse Emily said the situation in the intensive care unit has deteriorated to a point that clinical care is now “compromised”.

“You may have in the NICU a baby in a crib, then you’ll have a cot baby shoved right up against it,” she said.

Emily said not only had cribs been placed in a storeroom due to lack of space, they had also set up makeshift beds in a room designed for grieving families to spend the last moments with their children, before life support is switched off.

“There’s nowhere for them to go – that’s when we double park babies, we move two babies next to each other, we have to set up in the corridor – we are running around moving babies, calling other hospitals begging for them to take out babies,” she said.

Westmead neonatal nurse Emily said “mistakes have been made”. Picture: Jeremy Piper

As a result of the chronic understaffing, clinical mistakes have been made in the unit.

“Mistakes have been made, definitely,” Emily said.

“Whether that’s as simple as the baby getting the wrong milk, or the wrong medication has been, or too much medication has been given.”

Union member and Westmead midwife Jessica Charlston said when a new premature baby in need of a ventilated crib comes to the ward, they have to make space in any way they can or lives could be lost.

“We just make space … there is literally no other option,” she said.

“It’s putting babies at risk – sometimes you finish your shift and you think, how the hell has nothing bad happened.”

The Westmead NICU is currently staffed for an 80 per cent patient capacity, but often reaches up to 140 per cent patient capacity, despite being around 21 nurses on shift.

The Nurses and Midwives Association NSW assistant general secretary Michael Whaites said the NSW government urgently needs to fund another three registered nurses per shift to keep up with demand.

Westmead midwife Jessica Charlston said the situation is putting babies at risk. Picture: Justin Lloyd.

“The critical care nurses working in the NICU at Westmead Hospital are some of the most highly skilled clinicians, but they are at their wits end, after their repeated calls for help have gone unanswered,” he said.

Fed up Westmead clinical staff will hold a rally outside the hospital at 1pm Monday, calling on Health Minister Ryan Park to urgently intervene.

A spokesperson for Mr Park denied that storerooms were being used for patient beds.

Neonatal clinical staff will rally outside Westmead Hospital on Monday afternoon to call for urgent intervention from Health Minister Ryan Park into the struggling unit. Picture: NewsWire / John Appleyard

“Western Sydney Local Health District is committed to ensuring the delivery of high quality and safe care to our youngest patients and their parents and families which includes discussions about ways to improve the service, exploring options for capital works in the department and reviewing the workforce,” the spokesperson said.

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Originally published as Sick babies treated in corridors and storerooms as major Sydney hospital grapples with chronic underfunding