Garling Report - Port Macquarie Hospital Bursting At the Seams - Patients Treated in Corridors

03 December 2008

In the last six months the Port Macquarie Base Hospital has been forced to cancel up to 30 per cent of planned surgery due to bed shortages, according to the recently released Garling Report into Acute Care Services in NSW Public Hospitals.

Duty Member for Port Macquarie Melinda Pavey MLC said that the report reflects the stark reality of Labor’s health funding crisis, evident in the fact that doctors and nurses in Port Macquarie are “compelled to treat patients in corridors on a regular basis due to overcrowding”.

“The cancellation of almost one third of all planned surgery is not the fault of the hard working doctors and nurses, but rather the Labor Governments continued gross underfunding of the region,” Mrs Pavey said.

“The report shockingly states that Port Macquarie Hospital is ‘still working on budgets and resources that were planned for in the early 1990s’.

“The report also explains that patients surgery is regularly cancelled due to ‘bed block, lack of intensive care beds, and an increasing volume of emergency cases’.

“The $1.3 million that the Labor Government finally decided to allocate to the Hospital will unfortunately not be sufficient to address these serious resources shortages - it is nowhere near enough.

“This abysmal figure stands in stark contrast to the $30 million the Premier committed to for a V8 racetrack at Homebush Bay Sydney, reflecting just how completely distorted his priorities are.

“The Labor Governments decision to give the go-ahead to a $30 million street race, while at the same time allowing waiting times, risks of cross infection, medical error and staff burnout rates to continue to sky rocket due to severe shortages of Hospital funding, is utterly disgraceful.

“Saving local people’s lives is more important than a car race.

“The recent decision to cut 400 full time jobs from the North Coast Area Health is yet another unfathomable move by the State Labor Government. 

“The North Coast Nationals MPs have launched an online petition to fight against any cuts to our health services, and I urge everyone to sign it at http://www.savenorthcoasthospitals.com.au” Mrs Pavey said.