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This was published 4 years ago
Health Minister demands action over 'shocking' death in hospital
Health Minister Brad Hazzard has called for a full report from his department on the situation at a NSW hospital where a woman bled to death while being treated by video-call because the facility had not had a doctor on-site since June.
The Sydney Morning Herald on Monday revealed only nurses were physically present when Dawn Trevitt was rushed to the emergency department of Gulgong Hospital, near Mudgee, last month.
Health Minister Brad Hazzard.Credit: Kate Geraghty
She died within an hour from a gastrointestinal bleed.
Gulgong Hospital has been reliant on videoconferencing since the Western NSW Local Health District failed to renew the contract of its doctor four months ago.
Dr Nebras Yahya told the local ABC that negotiations broke down because the health district wanted to reduce his pay and support more patients with telehealth.
The health district also issued a tender last month allowing face-to-face doctors to be replaced with videoconferencing outside business hours at a further six hospitals across NSW.
Dawn Trevitt, 66, died last month while being treated by teleconference in a NSW emergency department.
Under the tender, a doctor will only have to be present at least one day a week in Collarenebri, two days a week in Brewarrina, three days a week in Lightning Ridge and Coonamble, and five days a week in Bourke and Walgett.
Mr Hazzard sent his condolences to Mrs Trevitt's family.
"I have expressed my strong view to NSW Health that everything that can be done must be done to try and get a doctor or doctors to work at this health facility," he said.
"Telehealth is a 21st-century backup when doctors aren’t available but the first step should always be to try and get doctors to work in regional hospitals."
Gulgong's local member, Nationals MP Dugald Saunders, said he had been in discussions with the health district and Dr Yahya.
"If it is necessary, I’m willing to step in and mediate ... in an effort to find a mutually beneficial arrangement," he said.
The NSW opposition described the reports as "shocking".
"Telehealth should never replace frontline clinical care, rather it should be used to enhance existing services," opposition health spokesman Ryan Park said.
NSW Health denied that telehealth was replacing doctors where doctors were available.
The claim was contradicted by country doctors who said they stood to lose work at the regional hospitals targeted by the tender and slammed it as "dangerous and inappropriate".
Labor has secured the numbers for a parliamentary inquiry into country hospitals after the Herald uncovered a death and a series of near-misses at Dubbo and Cobar hospitals, also within the Western NSW Local Health District.
A whistleblower has alleged thousands of test results were never followed up at Dubbo Hospital last year, leading to the death of a baby girl.