Sitting in bed block at Wollongong Hospital emergency department listening to calls for help coming over the radio is "stressful" for paramedic Tess Oxley.
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"You have conversations amongst yourselves about 'can someone look after a patient for two of us and then two of us can make a team up and go out," the paramedic and Health Services Union delegate said.
"But then we don't have a stretcher. Maybe if it's life threatening, is there something that we can do on scene to provide that initial help?
"We are doing everything we can, even though it's outside of our hands, to do the best job we can every day. But we are absolutely hamstrung in doing it."
At Wollongong Hospital emergency department on Thursday night, Keira MP Ryan Park said ambulances were queued up in bed block.
"Last night we saw up to 11 ambulances stuck waiting to get patients off, waiting in some cases well over four hours before they can get back on the road," Mr Park said.
"That isn't a one-off, that is a continual lack of infrastructure investment and service investment into this hospital."
Mr Park said it was only a matter of time before there are "catastrophic outcomes and someone loses their life".
"This is not fair on paramedics," he said, "this is not fair on our health care workers, nurses and doctors in places like Wollongong emergency department who are absolutely stretched."
He said he wanted the upcoming State Budget to include funds for the Wollongong Hospital ED.
NSW Ambulance is investigating an "alternate transport option" where non-urgent cases would be taken to GPs rather than emergency departments.
Mr Park questioned whether that would be a viable solution.
"I'm always happy to have a look at proposals to take pressure off our emergency departments, but lets be clear - to get into a GP in the Illawarra is not easy," he said.
"Time and time again we are hearing reports of people making 12, 13, 14 phone calls before they can access a GP. So it's not as simple as saying they're going to pick up someone and take them to a general practitioner."
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Glen Humphries
I'm an award-winning senior journalist with the Illawarra Mercury and have well over two decades' worth of experience in newspapers. I cover the three local councils in the Illawarra for the Mercury, state and federal politics, as well as writing for the TV guide. If I'm not writing, I'm reading.
I'm an award-winning senior journalist with the Illawarra Mercury and have well over two decades' worth of experience in newspapers. I cover the three local councils in the Illawarra for the Mercury, state and federal politics, as well as writing for the TV guide. If I'm not writing, I'm reading.
