Chris Minns says NSW govt 'wants to do better' on hospital emergency wait times after elderly man forced to sleep on floor

Sky News AU

6 days ago

New South Wales Premier Chris Minns has said the government "wants to do better" on emergency department wait times after an elderly man was forced to lay on the floor of a western Sydney hospital for at least 24 hours for a bed.
A 2GB listener sent host Ben Fordham a picture of her 70-year-old father from the weekend curled up on the cold ground at Blacktown Hospital among other patients.
The elderly man - Raymond - had arrived on Saturday afternoon due to pain and was told he would have to wait in emergency until a hospital bed was free.
Close by, an 80-year-old man was also forced to lay on the floor.
It was discovered Raymond had a life-threatening haemoglobin level when he was eventually seen by a doctor some 24-hours later, Fordham said on Tuesday morning.
Raymond's daughter Hayley said her dad had called her numerous times wanting to discharge himself, saying he would be seen quicker in a small country town.
Mr Minns described the photo of the elderly man on the hospital floor as "distressing" and insisted the government "wants to do better" for patients and frontline staff.
Fordham reminded the NSW Premier he visited hospitals across Sydney late at night over two weeks in 2022 when he was in opposition and filmed videos for social media.
He used those clips to campaign for more support for health staff.
Asked what he has done since being in power for two years, Mr Minns said Labor is "putting more money into health than any government in the state's history".
The Premier said the 10 point rise to 40 per cent of patients being treated during clinically recommended times was due to his government's actions including removing the wages cap, lifting investment to the health sector and removal of privatisation.
"I'm not coming on saying we deserve a gold star, I've never said that. I recognise we have an enormous challenge in front of us. What I'm saying to you is it would be ruinous for the public health system to go back to the old (Liberal) model," he said.
The government has announced investments at Blacktown and Mt Druitt hospitals where an additional 60 beds will be added amid the population boom in Sydney's west.
There will also be $700 million injected into Bankstown Hospital, due to the rising cost of its construction, News Corp reported, and a rebuild of the facilities at Canterbury and Fairfield.
Mr Minns is also hoping the federal government's election promise of 50 urgent health care clinics will encourage patients to steer away from hospitals unless its an emergency.
"I'm not mucking around when I say this is the biggest investment in capital infrastructure for Western Sydney health in decades," the NSW Premier said.
"As you can tell for Raymond and other people, it's well overdue...
"We can't have a situation where a 70-year-old man or an 80-year-old man (where) the only relief that they can get is to crawl up in the foetal position on the floor of the emergency department. That is not good enough and I don't want anyone left with the impression that we want that to stand."
Shadow NSW health minister Kellie Sloane said it was "pretty shocking" to see the photo of Raymond curled up on the hospital floor waiting for a bed.
"This should not be happening. Patients at Blacktown sleeping on the floor because there simply is not enough beds. Decent people paying tax their entire lives and when they're at their most vulnerable and sick our system has let them down," she said.
"It is one of the poorest performing hospitals in the west. It ranks 20th out of the 20 hospitals in terms of dealing with people coming into the emergency department."