Public Health
Westmead’s ‘horrible’ normal
Westmead Hospital branch secretary and perioperative nurse Tim Blofield said people could wait “well over 24 hours in the waiting room” while access block forced patients to sleep on the floor.
“That was back in 2019 – now it’s absolute chaos.
“We had one instance where there were 28 COVID patients on the ward with one RN, two ENs and an AiN to care for them.
“And the funniest thing is, they want us to return to normal.
“The problem is, normal was horrible.
“I recall an instance where three coronary bypasses and two liver resections – time-critical and urgent procedures – had to be postponed because there were no ICU beds.”
He said patients had been sent to a general ward following whipple procedures, due to a shortage of ICU beds.
He said he took part in an “emergency meeting” with health minister Hazzard the previous day, but nurses’ appeals for help had “bounced right off him like water off a duck’s back”.
“I learned that day how little we have in common with many of those people in that building (Parliament house).
“We need ratios – we don’t need to see our colleagues die inside every single time they come to work.
“We don’t need a tea break to be a rare luxury.
“In ICU we lost 11 full-time positions in just a couple of months.
“I just want to say to Premier Perrottet: give us ratios, give us a worthy pay rise.
“I don’t care about your thanks. I can’t pay my mortgage with your thanks.”