Surgeon shortage pushes WA hospital to breaking point

Anaesthetists at Albany hospital were told to be ready for repeated femoral nerve blocks for patients with broken bones requiring surgery.

There are ongoing stresses in the state’s health system.

One of Western Australia’s largest regional cities is facing four months without a full-time orthopaedic surgeon, in the latest sign of ongoing stresses in the state’s health system.

Internal correspondence leaked to The Australian shows that staff at Albany Health Campus, one of WA’s largest hospitals outside Perth, were informed in early November that they would not have an orthopaedic surgeon on call between Monday and Friday until a new full-time surgeon begins in March.

Anaesthetists at the hospital were told there may be a need for repeated femoral nerve blocks for patients with broken bones requiring surgery who were having to wait for either a transfer to Perth – some 420km away – or for the scheduled locum surgeon to arrive.

Since then, the hospital has sourced locum surgeons who will be available from Friday until Monday, but the hospital will rely on remote support for the rest of the week.

All elective orthopaedic surgeries, other than those run by the locum surgeons, have been postponed until the arrival of the new surgeon next year.

A spokeswoman for Albany Health Campus said orthopaedic care was still available through the combination of a consultant orthopaedic surgeon and an on-call registrar.

“Workforce pressures aren’t uncommon in remote and regional areas, especially throughout the festive season when many people look to take time off work. At Albany Health Campus, this has translated to limited orthopaedic locum cover from November,” she said.

“The community of Albany should be assured we’re doing everything within our power to attract and retain staff, including offering substantial financial incentives, and will welcome an ­additional orthopaedic specialist in the first half of 2025.”

Two orthopaedic patients were transferred to Perth in the first few weeks of November, although it is understood that one of those cases was complex and would have always required transfer.

WA Liberal leader and health spokeswoman Libby Mettam told The Australian that the shortage of orthopaedic services in Albany was “an appalling indictment” of Roger Cook’s state Labor government.

“WA Labor has overseen massive divestment from the ­regional health system, despite the biggest boom in our state’s history, driven by the regions,” Ms Mettam said.

“From Albany to Port Hedland, nowhere has suffered more under WA Labor’s unprecedented divestment in health than regional Western Australia.”

WA’s health system has been under sustained pressure in recent years, as it faced ongoing ­labour shortages.

Maternity services in Carnarvon were suspended because of staffing shortages in 2022, forcing expectant mothers into an almost 1000km round trip to Geraldton to give birth.

The state opposition has repeatedly highlighted WA’s high levels of ambulance ramping, or the amount of time ambulances spend parked outside a hospital waiting for patients to be handed over.

That ambulance ramping rate has sat at some 6000 hours a month for four of the past five months, well above the 1000 hours a month level that WA Premier Roger Cook described in opposition as a “crisis”.

Australian Medical Association WA president Michael Page said there were shortages in many medical specialties across both metropolitan and regional WA.

“We clearly need better medical workforce planning, but these issues also highlight how exposed we are as a state when there aren’t enough doctors,” he said.

“We are highly reliant on migration to fulfil our medical workforce requirements, where we should strive to be more self-­sufficient by training more doctors … from medical school through to specialty training. Part of the solution is opening up training opportunities for experienced doctors in regional WA.”