Bed block causes three-hour waits at Dubbo Hospital emergency department

Australian Paramedics Association Vice President, Scott Beaton, who is an on-road paramedic from Gilgandra and currently working in Dubbo, said patients being brought in by paramedics had to wait hours before beds became available for them inside the hospital.

They were waiting in the ambulance bay, on stretchers, and in some cases, they were beginning their treatment there because the hospital was full to capacity.

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He said the hospital issued a 'code black' on Wednesday, May 17, to bring in extra staff so they could put more patients in beds.

Mr Beaton said he had been working as a paramedic for 22 years and bed block had always been apparent, but the scenario at Dubbo was the worst he'd seen.

"I don't know if it's because of population growth ... maybe an elderly population .... It's only getting worse and Dubbo is feeling the brunt of it right now," he told the Daily Liberal.

A lack of GPs is likely exacerbating the situation and Mr Beaton said he had picked-up patients in his ambulance during the past three days who had told him they had called their GP first, waited on the phone for five minutes, and hung up to call an ambulance instead.

"It should be important that people don't hesitate to call an ambulance if they need it for their chest pain, but be patient to get into your GP ... If it's not urgent, not life threatening."

Bed block refers to a lack of beds in the emergency department. When an ambulance brings someone in, they can't offload them because all the beds are full. The ED waiting room is full, too. Full beds in the hospital wards lead to full beds in ED and this leads to bed block.

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Mr Beaton said the issue was not specific to Dubbo Hospital, and was occurring across the state in all major hospitals, including those in Tamworth, Sydney and Newcastle.

Last year, there was a parliamentary inquiry into the impact of ambulance ramping (ambulance delays) and access block (bed block) on the operation of hospital emergency departments in NSW, and a number of recommendations were made.

COVID-19 exacerbating other medical issues was found to be a factor contributing to bed block, as was natural disasters, fragmented funding, and socioeconomic factors.

There was another inquiry into rural and regional health.

Mr Beaton said more nurses were needed, as was funding - and pay rises.

"Pay is certainly a problem and we have been making noise and writing to the premier and health minister to lift the [pay] cap which could have been done prior to the sitting of parliament and it still hasn't been done," he said.

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"Being based in a more rural location ... we know it's hard to attract nurses ... they get $10,000 bonuses to move out here and we're still struggling to get them out here."

Meanwhile, members of another union for paramedics, the Health Services Union, are involved in a 24-hour-strike on Thursday, May 18, demanding the government make good on its election promise to lift the public sector wages cap.

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