RYAN PARK MP
MEMBER FOR KEIRA
SHADOW MINISTER FOR HEALTH
JENNY AITCHISON MP
MEMBER FOR MAITLAND
SHADOW MINISTER FOR REGIONAL TRANSPORT AND ROADS
PEREE WATSON
NSW LABOR CANDIDATE FOR UPPER HUNTER
LIBERAL NATIONAL UNDERINVESTMENT LEAVES MAITLAND HOSPITAL AT BREAKING POINT
Shadow Minister for Health Ryan Park, Member for Maitland Jenny Aitchison and NSW Labor Candidate for Upper Hunter Peree Watson today met with union members outside Maitland Hospital to discuss a myriad of issues that health workers face on a daily basis.
One of the concerns raised was the urgent need for additional health staff to address the extreme wait times in the Emergency Department (ED) and to address the expanding elective surgery list.
Recent Bureau of Health Information (BHI) data revealed that 2,560 patients left the ED without, or before completing treatment. When compared to the same quarter in the previous year (Oct-Dec 2021) there was an increase of 61.7% (977attendances).
It was also revealed that there are currently 946 patients on the elective surgery waiting list and some patients were waiting up to 493 days for surgery.
After 12 long years under the Liberals and Nationals, this recent data clearly shows that our hospitals and health system has been left understaffed and over-stretched.
Under Dominic Perrottet and the Liberals and Nationals, people in NSW have to wait longer to get an ambulance, longer to be treated in an emergency department and longer for important non-urgent surgeries.
Labor’s fresh start for health and hospitals in NSW
Labor has a comprehensive long-term plan to redesign and repair the health system and deliver a fresh start for health in New South Wales. A Minns Labor Government will:
- Provide scholarships for thousands of nurses, doctors, paramedics, and allied health workers each year to staff our hospitals.
- Implement Safe Staffing levels in NSW hospitals. It will help with workloads; it will take pressure off nurses and ensure they can treat patients with the care they deserve and need.
- An additional 500 rural and regional paramedics in Labor’s first term, supported by three new helicopter ambulance bases.
Quotes attributable to Ryan Park, NSW Shadow Minister for Health:
“The BHI data for Maitland Hospital echos alarming trends in NSW’s hospitals and health system, after 12 years of the Liberals and Nationals.”
“Patients presenting at Maitland hospital are continuing to pay the price when there aren’t enough health workers in our hospitals.”
“The people who look after us need more support. There is widespread burnout, fatigue and under-resourcing in our hospitals.”
“A Minns Labor Government’s package will help train the paramedics, nurses, doctors, and allied health professionals we need to begin the work to repair our hospital system.”
“The NSW health system cannot cope with another four years of Band-Aid solutions.”
Quotes attributable to Jenny Aitchison, Member for Maitland:
“Our incredibly hard-working and dedicated health workers are exhausted and stretched to the limit.”
“We need to ensure that staff have the support that they need and that there are more of them to allow them to do their job safely – it’s really that simple.”
“The Liberal National Government has failed to adequately invest in our state’s hospitals and as a result we now have a situation where people are forced to wait in the back of an ambulance or in overcrowded emergency departments for long periods of time or worse, not get treated at all because of long delays.”
“I’ve spoken to paramedics and nurses about what it is really like in our emergency wards - every day, every night and on every shift - they’re not just tired, they’re exhausted and they’re leaving in droves because this government isn’t listening.”
Quotes attributable to Peree Watson, NSW Labor Candidate for Upper Hunter:
“The stories that I am being told are horrifying, patients in ED for 2 days, treatments being undertaken in hallways, patients simply walking out. Upper Hunter residents are actively avoiding Maitland Hospital, this is so wrong.”
