Questions have emerged about how the hospital system informs the public and paramedics of major delays, after Blacktown Hospital was forced to admit a woman had waited more than 30 hours to leave its emergency department for a ward.
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Fairfax Media revealedthere was a major delay in the emergency department at Blacktown Hospital on Monday after up to 60 beds were closed to accommodate staff Christmas holidays.
One patient, a 63-year-old woman diagnosed with gastroenteritis, called for an ambulance about 10pm on Sunday.
The hospital declined to say on Tuesday when she was finally admitted to a ward, raising the possibility she had waited for between 30 and 40 hours.
"The patient was moved to a single room in an appropriate ward earlier today," said Danny O'Connor, the chief executive of the Western Sydney Local Health District late on Tuesday.
Despite the delay the Health Minister, Jillian Skinner, was standing by a statement made at 5pm on Monday that the "patient flow issue" at the hospital had been resolved.
Monday's episode also suggests there may be gaps in NSW Health's system for informing the public of likely waiting times in Sydney hospitals.
Sydney hospitals disclose the number of untreated patients in their emergency rooms on a government website, designed to inform members of the public of likely waiting times and help them choose a hospital.
By 2pm on Monday, the 63-year-old woman had been in the emergency department for 14 hours and was being treated on a bed in the emergency department. A team of paramedics had been called in to replace those who had been waiting with the woman since she was first admitted to hospital.
At that time, Blacktown Hospital was recording only two patients waiting for treatment in its emergency department .
NSW Health says a low number of patients recorded as awaiting treatment on Monday afternoon was because patients waiting in the emergency room were being attended to by staff while they waited for admission.
An unexpectedly high number of patients turning up to the hospital and checking themselves in is likely to have compounded the delays. Many are not understood to have had serious injuries.
Mr O'Connor said that information was intended to "broadly inform" the public and was automatically taken from the hospital's computer system and could not be altered by staff.
"Blacktown Hospital is confident that all presentations are being recorded," he said.
But the Herald understands the ambulance service was also not warned to stop sending less serious patients to the Hospital. Mr O'Connor said the system for allocating ambulances to hospitals was automated. Hospitals can independently issue warnings in case of major delays.
Under NSW regulations, paramedics are obliged to wait with a patient in the emergency department until a bed is found for them.
The paramedics' union said a growing number of paramedics were being taken off the road due to delays in hospital, particularly over the holiday period.
"We're calling on the government to intervene as soon as possible to assist paramedics to get back out on the road where they can do their job," said Stephen Pearce, a spokesman for the Australian Paramedics' Association.
"The flow of patients from the emergency department to the wards and then discharge [...] had been resolved [by Monday afternoon]," a spokeswoman for Mrs Skinner said.
A planned $322-million major upgrade of Blacktown Hospital will be the largest in the state and upgrade the hospital's emergency department, the Health Minister said.
