Worst ambulance trolley block in NSW

By Bevan Shields
Updated November 6 2012 - 2:41am, first published November 7 2011 - 9:56am
Worst ambulance trolley block in NSW
Worst ambulance trolley block in NSW

Sick and injured patients have waited more than six hours to be taken off ambulance stretchers at Wollongong Hospital's emergency department, new documents have revealed.Hundreds experienced lengthy waits in hallways during June, July and August, taking paramedics off the road for thousands of hours.The NSW Health data, released under freedom of information laws, ranks Wollongong Hospital the worst in the state for ambulance congestion.Over the three winter months, 936 patients waited between one and three hours to be taken off their stretcher, while 157 endured waits of between three and six hours.One patient who arrived at 9.49am on August 22 was not handed over to emergency department staff until 4.06pm.Another arrived at 5.44am on July 20 but was not transferred until midday.Performance targets say 90 per cent of arrivals should be taken off-stretcher within 30 minutes of arrival.The number of ambulance patients who waited more than an hour at Wollongong Hospital was four times greater than John Hunter Hospital in Newcastle.A spokesman for Illawarra members of the Emergency Medical Service Protection Association said "trolley block" was frustrating for paramedics and patients.Paramedics could not perform procedures or administer drugs once they were inside the hospital, he said."If one of the patients deteriorates or needs something we can't do it, we have to really push the nursing staff, if you can find them because they're so busy, to get it."The spokesman said some congestion would be eased if ambulances were not called out for minor ailments.A spokeswoman for the Illawarra Shoalhaven Local Health District said Wollongong's emergency department was one of the busiest in NSW, handling the most serious and complex presentations from the Illawarra and South Coast."The hospital experienced continued increased demand during the winter months as the elderly and those with chronic health conditions become more vulnerable," she said."Winter is our busiest time of year and our hospitals experienced a surge in ambulance and walk-in presentations as well as an increase in the admission of more acutely ill patients."She said the average off-stretcher time at Wollongong Hospital was now 44 minutes.The spokeswoman also noted that unlike other similar-sized hospitals, Wollongong Hospital did not have a system where ambulances were redirected to less busy facilities in times of increased demand.Ambulance Relief Teams - off-duty paramedics paid overtime to wait with multiple patients instead of on-duty crews, are also not used at Wollongong Hospital.

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