- Blacktown’s new emergency department struggles to meet patient demand
- Alarming image reveals where people are forced to wait
Concerns have been raised about overcrowding in Australian hospitals after a photo emerged of a woman lying on the floor of an emergency room.
The image, taken last month, shows a woman in the waiting room of the new Emergency Department at Blacktown Hospital in western Sydney, with a blanket, pillow and her belongings strewn across the floor on a makeshift bed.
The patient arrived by ambulance during the night and her relatives asked the staff for bedclothes so she could rest.
At the same time, other people were seen resting on the floor with all the seats occupied in the narrow waiting room.
New South Wales Premier Chris Minns on Wednesday responded to concerns that the state’s hospital system is overwhelmed.
“We will need to pay particular attention to Blacktown – our public hospitals are under huge pressure,” he said.
“We want to do better when it comes to health outcomes.”
Blacktown’s Emergency Department has seen a massive increase in attendances recently, with attendances up 10.5 per cent in the January to March quarter of 2024 compared to the same period last year, according to the NSW Health Information Bureau’s Healthcare Quarterly report.
A woman is pictured on a makeshift bed in the Emergency Department at Blacktown Hospital as the waiting room was overcrowded with patients.
This equates to 1,598 more people attending Blacktown Emergency Department compared to the same period in 2023, bringing the figure to 16,776.
And it’s not just patients who are feeling the pressure, with reports of staff sometimes having to wait hours to use the same medical equipment, which is often in need of repair.
Shadow Health Minister Kellie Sloane said the hospital in Sydney’s west was constantly overcrowded and the state government needed to urgently step in and fix the serious problem.
“People in western Sydney are fighting back against Labor’s two years of health budget cuts,” she told Daily Mail Australia.
“What is happening at Blacktown Hospital is deeply worrying and is a sign that the NSW healthcare system is going backwards under the Labor government. Blacktown Hospital has seen a 10.5 per cent increase in emergency department visits this year and we are sadly seeing the consequences.
The waiting room of the Emergency Department at Blacktown Hospital is shown.
Blacktown Hospital’s new state-of-the-art Emergency Department opened its doors to the public on 7 August 2019
‘In Sydney we should never be faced with a situation where sick or injured people are forced to sleep on the floor.
‘This week the Premier and his Minister for Health were busy fighting nurses when they should have been focusing on delivering better health outcomes for the people of New South Wales.’
The Emergency Department is part of the hospital’s new Acute Services building and when it opened in 2019, the company that built it, AW Edwards, described it as a “state-of-the-art healthcare facility”.
The Western Sydney Local Health District was contacted for comment but did not respond before publication.