NSW Labor today demanded an immediate independent external investigation into Wollongong Hospital – which is buckling under enormous pressure.

NSW Labor has revealed that “brave whistle blowers” within the Shoalhaven-Illawarra Local Health District have described the hospital to be at breaking point.

This includes:

• Incidences of “bed block” over the last four weeks;
• Nursing staff being requested to undertake double shifts;
• Nursing staff being called at short notice to do extra shifts;
• Patients being discharged too early to free up necessary beds;
• An emergency department at capacity;
• Patients being pressed to accept transfers and treatment at private hospitals to reduce pressure on Wollongong Hospital; and
• A group text message to staff reading: “The hospital is in crisis – please help!”

Additional pressure is being placed on Wollongong Hospital this year with 4,092 flu cases recorded in the Illawarra and Shoalhaven Local Health District, up from 1,253 in 2016. That is almost four times the previous year.

Despite expecting the worst flu season in NSW history, it is understood that the “winter ward” that is usually opened each year to deal with such cases was not opened this year.

Wollongong Labor MP Paul Scully and Shadow Health Minister Walt Secord issued the call to the Health Minister Brad Hazzard – saying they wanted an investigation similar to what occurred at the South East Regional Hospital in Bega earlier this year.

Mr Scully and Mr Secord pointed to the independent investigation into the South East Regional Hospital in Bega by former Queensland and NSW health officials, Mr Michael Reid and Adrian Nowitzke in May 2017, where they found systematic problems at the hospital and within the local health district.

Mr Scully said he was being “inundated” by members of the community and staff worried about Wollongong Hospital.

Mr Secord said the independent investigation would make recommendations on how to fix the health and hospital system at Wollongong. It would also examine the financial situation and staffing requirements at Wollongong Hospital.

Each year about 64,000 patients present to Wollongong Hospital – with almost 16,000 presenting to the emergency department in the most recent reporting quarter (April to June 2017).

The independent Bureau of Health Information (BHI) data released last week found that Wollongong had the third longest waits in its emergency department outside Sydney – with 34.4 per cent of patients waiting longer than four hours. This was after John Hunter Hospital in Newcastle and Shoalhaven Hospital.

(Almost half of the patients in the emergency department were in triage four and triage five – the two least urgent categories. These were non-urgent cases like small cuts, abrasions and ear-aches.)

As of June 30, there were 2,065 patients waiting for elective surgery at Wollongong Hospital. In relation to tonsillectomies and knee/hip replacements, the Illawarra has some of the longest waits in the entire State.

Of those; 697 patients were waiting for ear, nose and throat surgery and 709 were waiting for orthopaedic surgery.