Blacktown Hospital horror: cancer patient ‘waits 14 hours to be seen’

Therese Ryan-Argaet says she waited 14 hours to see a doctor at Blacktown Hospital in western Sydney.

Therese Ryan-Argaet at home in western Sydney. Picture: Britta Campion

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In the days leading up to another bowel cancer operation at Blacktown Hospital in western Sydney this month, Therese Ryan-­Argaet said her final goodbyes to friends and family, likening her previous experiences at the facility to something one would ­expect in a “third-world country”.

Ryan-Argaet says she was “absolutely petrified” at the thought of returning to the hospital after having waited for 14 hours in the emergency department during one visit and on another occasion for 17 hours in a waiting room after surgery.

The 56-year-old grandmother’s claims are backed by other patients and medical staff, who say they are overwhelmed.

“On my first night shift this week, I had someone in the waiting room who was there for 33 hours before we found them a bed,” says emergency nurse Jessica Kybert, Blacktown branch vice-president of the NSW Nurses and Midwives Association.

“I’ve had a patient in the waiting room for 48 hours until we found them a cardiac bed.”

The Minns government has claimed improvements across the board in NSW hospitals, and at Blacktown Hospital in particular, which has been the subject of repeated complaints.

Blacktown Hospital faced scrutiny in 2020 after the death of several newborns. Twenty obstetricians threatened to resign over lack of access to operating theatres and understaffing issues.

Last year, the Minns government promised a record $35.1bn in health funding across NSW to relieve pressure.

Blacktown Hospital in western Sydney has been the subject of many complaints.

But Ryan-Argaet tells a different story. Her battle with cancer began in 2020. After a first operation at Blacktown that year, she says oncologists told her they “had got it all”.

Since then, she has had three more cancer-related surgeries at the hospital.

In 2022, she underwent a colonoscopy at a private hospital after finding blood in her stool. That evening she woke to find her bedsheets soaked in blood.

She was rushed to the Blacktown Hospital – the nearest emergency department – where she says she waited 14 hours ­to see a doctor.

“I was crying as the waiting room was full and the chair and my clothes were bloodstained,” she says. Doctors finally performed a CT scan and then surgery to ­remove “several polyps” but told her “there was no bowel cancer”, she says.

Until March 2023, she ­believed she was cancer-free but had become fatigued. A trip to a lung specialist revealed she had stage-four metastatic bowel cancer, which had spread to her lungs. Oncologists postponed surgery to March this year, opting to wait until the growth of her cancer had slowed and assess the efficacy of chemotherapy.

“They were just watching it because it hadn’t spread and it had stayed isolated with the two spots in the lungs; that’s when they decided to go ahead and do surgery,” she says.

In March, Ryan-Argaet again went under the knife at Blacktown to remove parts of her lower intestine and bowel.

Therese Ryan-Argaet, while she was in Blacktown Hospital in June 2025.

She says she was promised a bed in the high-­dependency ward. However, following her procedure, she was spent 17 hours in a waiting room until a bed ­became available.

There, she says, patients were “literally lying on the floor”. The “nurses [were] running ragged, doing double shifts,” she says.

In 2024, NSW Health released guidelines on safe staffing levels. A ratio of one nurse to three patients in emergency and one to four in surgical assessment units was recommended.

“We currently work roughly one to four or one to five in the emergency department,” Kybert says. “On an average shift, we’re one to two staff short, up to as many as four to five short before execs find casuals to fill the gap or deploy staff from other wards.”

Ryan-Argaet says she didn’t receive a shower or wipe down for the six days she was at Blacktown, nor did anyone change her bedsheets.

“It’s not the fault of the nurses,” she says. “They’re doing such a hard job. They’re run off their feet. It’s just a joke; it’s an ­absolute joke.”

Ryan-Argaet lays the blame on broken government promises and failures by hospital administrators.

“Chris Minns has gone back on his promise. My family has been Labor voters for generations, and I won’t be voting for him again,” she says.

Kybert says: “The government keeps trying to say that we’re going to be the best-paid health system in the country. They just haven’t done anything about it, have they?”

NSW Premier Chris Minns at Blacktown Hospital. Picture: Richard Dobson

A Western Sydney Local Health District spokesperson ­rejected Ryan-Argaet’s account, saying: “The claim this patient did not have access to ­appropriate hygiene care or fresh linen is untrue. The claims about staffing levels at Blacktown Hospital are ­untrue. Staffing levels at Blacktown Hospital are in line with NSW Health guidelines.

“We remain committed to resolving any ongoing issues and ensuring all our patients receive healthcare that meets their needs and expectations.”

Back at her home in western Sydney, recovering from her most recent surgery, Ryan-Argaet is not reassured.

“It has made me think if the cancer comes back, God forbid, whether I’ll be willing to go through this again.”