A NSWNMA representative in Westmead Hospital’s ED, RN Farah Ismail, said the hospital-level nursing working group includes three experienced and senior ED nurses.

“They are all NSWNMA members, and they will definitely get our message across,” she said.

She said the united stand by nurses, doctors and other staff “seems to have got the wheels in motion”, with reports that management was considering the early opening of a planned Psychiatric Emergency Care Centre unit attached to the ED.

“Management needs to come up with solutions now, because the department is losing senior nurses due to the appalling, unsafe working conditions.

“Some nurses who were hired at the start of the pandemic have already applied for other jobs because our ED isn’t what they thought it would be and they are not coping.

“On my last shift on a Thursday, we had 37 unplaced admissions with no allocated beds, and throughout that shift there was a page saying ‘the hospital is at capacity, please prioritise discharges’.

“It is common for medically cleared psychiatric patients who are not critically unwell or in need of a telemetry bed to sit in the corridor for up to 18 hours, or sleep on the floor while waiting for a psychiatric assessment.

“Sometimes your heart breaks for these poor patients; it’s just not fair. Even geriatric admissions were sitting in our waiting room for nine to 12 hours last week.

“After patients are eventually admitted by a psychiatrist or psych CNC, they might have to wait two days for a bed at Cumberland Hospital, which is where most of our psych patients go. Or wait up to 16 hours for transport.”

Farah says such conditions are a “recipe for increased aggression”.

“We have had multiple incidents where staff were badly assaulted, and we now have at least two security guards in ED at all times.

“But if it wasn’t for a regular police presence in our department we would sometimes really be in trouble.”

In October, a 26-year-old man who attacked a Westmead ED nurse, escaped jail when he was sentenced to two years and six months to be served under supervision in the community.

The nurse’s scalp was split to her skull during the attack, and she needed 16 stitches.