Crumbling health system hits close to home after 12 hours wait in A&E

Sharon Webb

A Westbury woman spent a nightmare 12 hours curled up in a foetal position in the Launceston General Hospital’s A&E waiting room in May because there were no beds.

The woman, who does not want to be named, described the situation as ‘absolutely disgraceful’.

‘In 12 hours I was never in a bed’, she said.

Lyons Labor MHA Jen Butler said the woman’s experience was unacceptable.

‘The LGH emergency department is overcrowded on a daily basis’, she said.

‘Calls for immediate action by doctors’ and nurses’ organisations have been ignored by the government for years. Solutions have been rejected. This government just does not care.

‘Vulnerable patients in the community are now too often waiting for hours in an emergency.’

Having called an ambulance around 2.30am on a Friday night, on arrival at the Launceston General Hospital the Westbury woman was told there were no beds.

Suffering severe abdominal pain as she sat on the waiting room’s hard plastic chairs for the night, the woman watched as a male patient could only lie on the floor.

‘I heard a nurse say, ‘It’s going to be one of those nights’, the woman said. ‘It turned out they had 60 patients and only 40 beds.’

Despite her experience, the Westbury woman said she could not fault medical staff.

‘Eventually I saw a doctor and had scans. That was fantastic.

‘While I was in the waiting room I was monitored constantly. The medical staff were run off their feet; they did the best they could in the situation.’

When she was allowed to leave on Saturday afternoon, over-worked staff forgot she had a canula still in her arm and appeared to expect her to return to Westbury without a car and still in her pyjamas and dressing gown.

Since being re-elected the Liberal State Government says it has brought together representatives from both the public and private hospital sector to look at working together to support Tasmanians to get health care sooner.

Premier Peter Gutwein said that with continually increasing demand, it was vital to use every available service to reduce pressure on public hospitals.

‘In our plan for our first 100 days, we committed to meeting each major private hospital within seven days to discuss what support they can provide to our busy public hospital system, and that we would work to put arrangements in place by June 30, 2021.’

But acting Labor leader Anita Dow said new Health Minister Jeremy Rockliff’s health plan needed to be more than a talkfest.

‘Tasmanians have had enough of the multitude of meetings about health over the Liberals’ seven years in government and want real action to fix this crisis’, she said.

Mr Rockliff said the Tasmanian government was providing the biggest ever boost to elective surgery, with an additional $120 million investment, taking the total figure to $156.4 million over four years.

‘This will enable us to deliver an additional 22,800 elective surgeries and endoscopies for Tasmanians across the state’, he said.

But Anita Dow asked, ‘Why are the Liberals just getting around to doing this now when they have had seven years to take this action?

‘More than 12,000 Tasmanians are on a waiting list for necessary surgery and more than 50,000 are waiting for an appointment with a specialist.

‘This is impacting significantly on many Tasmanian’s quality of life. ‘With one in 10 Tasmanians waiting for an appointment with a specialist, the situation can’t be allowed to deteriorate further.’

Mr Rockliff was asked for a comment on the Westbury woman’s experience but did not reply.