People with disabilities ‘let down’ by hospital experience

Speaking to Angus Thomson in today’s Sun-Herald, Declan Lee says he was let down by the NSW hospital system. That appears to be an understatement.

In a stint at a mental health short-stay unit, Lee, who has cerebral palsy, slipped and fell on a bathroom floor. He said he waited for three hours there, developing bruises and pressure sores, as ward staff were unable to lift him without a hoist and were unable to find one.

The Northern Beaches Hospital is administered through a public-private partnership between NSW Health and Healthscope.Credit: Nick Moir

While the story would not be acceptable in any NSW public hospital, it is notable that this shocking tale is not from a skeleton-staffed regional multipurpose health service.

This is a patient’s experience at Northern Beaches Hospital, a major healthcare facility in one of the wealthiest – and, as the Herald reported last week, healthiest – parts of Sydney. It is a new hospital administered through a public-private partnership between NSW Health and Healthscope.

Ten years ago, NSW’s Bureau of Health Information released a specialist report into the experiences of people with a disability in the state’s hospitals.

While the data – drawn from 250,000 patient surveys of people admitted to NSW public hospitals – found patients with disabilities had a positive experience overall, patients with disabilities responded more negatively about their experience than those without when answering 26 of the survey’s 48 questions.

Only 40 per cent of patients with disabilities said they received sufficient help from staff to eat their meals, and patients with disability were less likely to say they had opportunities to talk to a doctor when needed or received assistance within a reasonable timeframe.

Similar research at this scale has not been published publicly since. However, several reports issued by the Physical Disability Council of NSW – including the one released today – have raised concern about the impact of staff shortages, what it sees as inadequate training, bed space and how people with disabilities are treated at hospital.

It is concerning that the council’s chief executive, Edward Morris, told The Sun-Herald he had been requesting a meeting with NSW Health Minister Ryan Park since October to discuss solutions.

In that time, issues in the state’s hospitals have only become worse, with staff shortages – exacerbated by the exit of dozens of psychiatrists from wards across NSW after more than 200 tendered their resignations amid an ongoing wage dispute – and issues with “bed block” in wards, and long emergency wait times.

Disability care requires a relationship between state and federal governments; the former being responsible for the state’s hospitals, the latter for funding Australia’s multibillion-dollar National Disability Insurance Scheme, and the carers, allied health care and other support it funds.

The council has several recommendations for hospitals including embedded roles for carers, training for staff in non-clinical jobs, and a statewide disability health strategy similar to that recently developed for LGBTQ health.

It is positive that Park is making arrangements for an in-person meeting to hear their concerns.

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