NSW Premier Chris Minns decries ‘enormous challenge' at Sydney hospital after 70yo sleeps on floor
The photo, posted to Facebook by the man's daughter Hayley Leatham, shows 70-year-old Raymond lying down behind a row of chairs at Blacktown Hospital with a bag under his head.
'This is the sad reality of our public health system and emergency waiting times and lack of beds,' Ms Leatham said.
'My dad is (a) 70-year-old man on the floor waiting for blood transfusions with extremely life-threatening low level haemoglobin levels.
'I have the most respect for our nurses and doctors, but this is truly heartbreaking to see.'
Ms Leatham told 2GB's Ben Fordham on Tuesday morning that her father had been forced to wait more than 24 hours at the busy western Sydney hospital after experiencing severe diarrhoea.
'There were red flags because the 70-year-old has a history of diabetes and hypertension,' Fordham said.
'Despite his condition, Raymond went without a hospital bed for a period of 24 hours.
'He was in so much pain he had to lay on the emergency department floor.'
Speaking later to Fordham, Mr Minns admitted the images were 'obviously distressing', noting stress to the family, but lay much of the blame at the former Coalition government.
He accused the former Liberal-Nationals state government of underinvesting in western Sydney hospitals.
'When you go to an emergency department to get the best kind of health care possible, you don't want to be in a situation where you have to wait that amount of time,' Mr Minns said.
'The situation today is not where we need it to be, and we need to do better with the massive investment that we're putting into health.'
Mr Minns admitted the state government did not 'deserve a gold star'.
'I recognise that we've got an enormous challenge in front of us, and I'm certainly not looking for a lap of honour,' he said.
'But, what I am saying to you is, it would be ruinous for the public health system in NSW to go back to the old model of privatisation, a wages cap, and an underinvestment in western Sydney.'
Mr Minns said the number of patients being treated during clinically recommended times at Blacktown Hospital had increased from 30 to 40 per cent under the Labor state government.
He also spruiked promises to install 60 new beds at Blacktown and Mt Druitt hospitals as well as funding for the much-delayed Rouse Hill and renovated Bankstown hospitals.
Those pledges did little to temper criticism from opposition health spokeswoman Kellie Sloane, who told Fordham it was 'pretty shocking' to see the images out of Blacktown.
'This should not be happening in our hospitals,' she said.
'Patients at Blacktown sleeping on the floor because there simply aren't enough beds.
'I'm terribly sad for this gentleman and his family, decent people paying tax their entire lives, and when they're at the most vulnerable and sick, our system has let them down.'
The Vaucluse MP said the situation was not a reflection on the staff and doctors at Blacktown Hospital, who she claimed had been 'ringing alarm bells' about long hospital delays.
'We need solutions at Blacktown,' she said.
'It is one of the poorest performing hospitals in the west of Sydney.
'It ranks 20th out of the 20 hospitals of its category in terms of dealing with people coming into the emergency department.
'We have to do something.'
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