Wollongong Hospital is so understaffed that nurses are routinely working double shifts in roles outside of their usual area and being left to deliver patient meals and do cleaning, according to the nurses union.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
As winter puts an even bigger squeeze on the struggling health system, Genevieve Stone from the Wollongong branch of the NSW Nurses and Midwives' Association said nurses were burnt out and concerned for patients' and their own safety.
"Presentation to the ED have skyrocketed, because wait times to get into the GP are unrealistic and the commencement of flu season," she said. "This includes paediatric presentations, and is leading to long delays for children getting seen to in the emergency department."
She said many patients were also delaying seeking medical treatment, which was making their conditions more severe by the time they got to hospital.
"Patients are not waiting to come to the emergency department because they know they'll be waiting so long, and it's the same with not going to see their GP because it's taking so long to get in," Ms Stone said.
"By the time they come to the emergency department they are much more unwell than they were a few years ago when they knew they could come and get in straight away. That means they are needing ICU more, and that sort of escalation."
These working conditions are taking their toll on nurses, who took to the streets two months ago to call for more government action on their working conditions.
"Staff have reported no down time and cancellation of leave, inappropriate workloads and completing jobs outside out normal practices such as delivering meals and cleaning," Ms Stone said.
"All of these things create delays in patient care and also affect the quality of it."
"Critical care staff are leaving because they are burnt out, education is being cancelled because of staffing shortages and there's an inappropriate mix of senior and junior staff on the floor."
"Our members are also reporting many aggressive incidences, inflamed by the lack of staffing support."
Ms Stone said union members were reporting that the emergency department was short staffed at every shift - and in some cases was missing nearly a quarter of the required staff.
For example, she said there had been 17 staff working when there is supposed to be 23 on a recently Friday night.
"Members across all areas are receiving multiple text message requests each day asking them to work extra hours," she said.
"The government keeps exploiting our empathy, because they know we'll feel bad for the other people we're working with and say yes to working double shifts all the time. The rosters are looking horrible."
She said some of her colleagues who had been working in nursing for 30 years said this was the worst they had ever seen the hospital.