Hospitals in ‘dire’ need of more beds

Two-thirds of Westmead Hospital’s intensive care beds are taken up by Covid-19 patients, forcing the Sydney hospital to send ­patients around NSW.

A total of 107 Covid-19 patients are in Westmead Hospital, in western Sydney, along with ­another 59 who are close contacts of confirmed cases. Picture: Gaye Gerard

Two-thirds of Westmead Hospital’s intensive care beds are taken up by Covid-19 patients, forcing the hospital to begin sending ­patients to other hospitals around NSW to free up space.

A total of 107 Covid-19 patients are in Westmead, in western Sydney, along with ­another 59 who are close contacts of confirmed cases, and more than 600 patients are being managed by the hospital in the community.

Registrars from all surgical specialties at the hospital along with the workforce of senior resident medical officers are being told they may be redeployed to Covid-19 wards or other wards as the hospital comes under significant staffing pressure with numbers of infected patients expected to rise.

Management has told surgeons at the hospital that it is ­expected up to half of all in­patients will be either Covid-19 patients or close contacts in coming weeks.

Westmead is located in the centre of the Delta outbreak in western Sydney.

The numbers of patients in ICU in NSW hospitals has grown to 100, with 32 on ventilators and another 586 hospitalised. In Westmead alone, 20 of the 30 available ICU beds are taken up by Covid-19 patients.

Intensive care doctors issued an urgent plea to the community to get vaccinated, warning hospitals were under pressure and the situation would only get worse.

“What has worried us over ­recent weeks is the increasing number of patients admitted to intensive care who are younger,” said Nhi Nguyen, an intensive care physician at Nepean Hospital in Sydney’s outer west. Twenty-five per cent of Covid-related admissions in NSW hospitals are under the age of 40.

Dr Nguyen said the numbers in ICU were growing because Covid-19 patients stayed longer in intensive care and could not be accommodated on other wards.

“That means beds are not being vacated at a fast enough pace to place new patients,” she said. “There are those who are on breathing machines and on heart and lung machines.

“We are worried about the ­increasing number of patients who are admitted to the wards because we know at some stage they will need the intensive care team’s care.”

Australian Paramedic Association president Chris Kastelan said the situation in Sydney’s hospitals was “dire”, as paramedics continued to face many hours of delays to offload patients as they battled significant bed blocks.

“Certainly the workload is ­increasing; there are difficulties with having enough crew on the ground to do the work because of the ramping and the bed blocks,” he said.

“The amount of time paramedics are spending with patients is similar to last week; we’re hearing of crews that were meant to sign off after 12 hours still stuck after 16 or 17 hours and that increases the risk of an adverse clinical event with patients.”

Mr Kastelan said paramedics were experiencing significant difficulties getting patients into stretched hospitals.

“I am aware there are issues with paramedics driving around with Covid-positive patients in their vehicles to find a hospital that will accept them,” he said.

“There are stories like that where paramedics are driving to up to three hospitals trying to find a hospital that has a facility to take a Covid positive patient.”

Hospitals in western and southwest Sydney are beginning to move patients to Wollongong and Newcastle to free up space for Covid-19 patients.

And there are grave fears for hospitals in the regions, many of which have no ICU capacity at all, as the virus continues to spread in Dubbo and the far west of NSW. There is major concern for small communities in the far west, ­including Wilcannia, with 15 new infections in this region to be included in Tuesday’s case numbers. Health authorities moved to set up a dedicated Covid-19 hospital in Narromine in the central west of NSW as case numbers escalate.

There are 283 active cases of Covid-19 in western NSW and 13 people sick with Covid-19 in Dubbo Hospital. Of those, five patients are in intensive care and one of is on a ventilator.