MAITLAND Hospital is the busiest it has ever been, new data shows, as the new site grapples with a rise in presentations and escalating wait times during a "challenging" time.
The latest Bureau of Health Information (BHI) quarterly report shows that presentations to the new Maitland Hospital between January and March rose by 7.1 per cent compared to the same time in 2021.
In the same quarter, arrivals by ambulance at the hospital increased by 9.5 per cent on the year before.
NSW Health is calling it "one of the most challenging quarters on record" in the state, citing the significant impact of the Omicron peak on public hospitals and staffing. But those on the ground at Maitland Hospital are feeling somewhat vindicated after the Local Health District previously denied their claim the hospital was busier since moving into the newer, bigger site in January.
Kathy Chapman, the Maitland Hospital branch secretary of the NSW Nurses and Midwives Association (NSWNMA), said one of their members had elected to take their toddler to the Calvary Mater Hospital emergency department (ED) last week, instead of Maitland.
"The Mater had four in the waiting room, and ours was full and not moving due to bed block," Ms Chapman said.
While patient presentations increased by 7.1 per cent at Maitland Hospital during the January to March quarter, they dropped by the same amount at John Hunter Hospital, and by 8.1 per cent at the Calvary Mater.
Same service with more patients
Both the NSWNMA and the NSW Australian Paramedics Association have previously told the Newcastle Herald that since Maitland Hospital transferred to the new location, its catchment area expanded to include patients from Raymond Terrace and Port Stephens.
The president of Maitland's NSWNMA branch, Kylie Goodwin, said they had the same "bed base" as the old site, but more patients. The hospital, and its staff, was under enormous pressure.
"It is evident every day," she said. "We can get over 100 presentations in ED in any 24-hour period. And we've got no beds for them. They can sit in ED for 24 hours before they actually get a bed on the wards.
"But at the Mater, their presentations have gone down. They are coming here."
Ms Chapman compared the new hospital to a shiny button on an old coat.
"That's all the community sees is the shiny new building - they don't actually see the cracks that are inside it, and the insides falling apart," she said.
A challenging quarter
Hunter New England Health chief executive Michael DiRienzo said the data for this quarter could not be fairly compared to previous years, as the Omicron variant of COVID-19 created a "very different health landscape". The large number of COVID-19 cases had presented "serious challenges", including staff being unavailable due to illness or isolation.
"This report reflects an unprecedented period for our health system," he said.
Hunter New England Health said the latest quarterly report captures the first two and a half months of operation for the new Maitland Hospital in Metford.
It said there were, on average, about 10 additional patients per day at Maitland Hospital.
A statement issued by the local health district to the Herald regarding hospital pressure on April 8 said that since opening in January, the hospital had not experienced a consistent increase in presentations despite known changes to ambulance boundary line, but it conceded there had been times of "unusual increases" in activity.
Staffing woes and a 'cumbersome' process
The NSWNMA representatives said they had been struggling with staff shortages since moving to the new hospital - but it was not just COVID to blame. They said a cumbersome recruitment process meant there were long delays in hiring new staff, and these lags had already led to losing some nurses to the private system.
"One nurse waited nearly four months from being told they had the job to actually starting on the floor," Ms Chapman said. "The private system can easily get it done within two weeks, yet we have 49 steps in the recruitment process, each one with the potential for actually delaying recruitment."
Hunter New England Health said it could take up to eight weeks from notification of a vacancy through to on-boarding due to "rigorous screening procedures", including working with children, criminal record, professional registration and referee checks to ensure safe, quality care.
State member for Maitland, Jenny Aitchison, said the earlier denials from the Local Health District that there had been any significant change in demand for the hospital was disappointing in the face of these latest figures.
She said rarely a day went by that a community or staff member didn't contact her office to talk about problems at the new hospital.
"There has been no criticism of the staffing or their behaviour, it has been about the lack of staff," she said.
Recruitment process and 'enhancements' ahead for hospital
Hunter New England Health's Karen Kelly - the executive director of Greater Metropolitan Health Services - said the BHI quarterly results were in line with what they had expected, and staff recruitment was "underway".
"We are in the process of implementing a number of strategies to improve our overall ED performance and the experience of patients in our care," she said.
She said four additional treatment spaces would be opened in the ED to increase capacity. Four additional ambulance offload beds would be opened to get more ambulances back on the road within 30 minutes, and allied health resources would be increased to ensure patients with complex conditions could be discharged faster to free up beds.
"These enhancements will result in a permanent increase of 11.24 [full time equivalent] nursing and 0.42 FTE allied health staff," Ms Kelly said. "Recruitment is underway and the improvements will come online when the roles are filled.
"An additional temporary 5.62 FTE nursing and 2.52 FTE allied health staff are also being recruited to assist with the winter surge period."
