This was published 7 years ago
Nepean Hospital not 'taken off matrix', paramedics say they were told to avoid emergency department
By Kate Aubusson
Nepean Hospital issued a stern statement emphatically stating no ambulances were diverted from its emergency department on Monday when the hospital struggled to cope with its huge patient load.
In the early hours of the morning Nepean Hospital's emergency department was overwhelmed to the point that staff asked NSW Health for help in reducing the number of ambulances being sent to the hospital.
Ambulances were told to avoid Nepean Hospital after the emergency department reached capacity on Monday night.Credit: Damian Baker
Paramedics with the Health Services Union are adamant they were told the hospital was a not an option for crews between 3.30am and 5.30am.
But the hospital was never taken "off the matrix", the system that directed ambulances to the closest, most appropriate hospital, said Nepean Blue Mountains Local Health District chief executive Kay Hyman.
NSW Health says the hospital was not taken "off the matrix".Credit: Rachel Olding
NSW Health deputy secretary Susan Pearce said the system no longer took hospitals off the matrix.
Instead, during times of exceptionally high demand, NSW Health can manipulate thresholds that determine how many ambulances can be sent to any one emergency department at a time.
The number of ambulances Nepean Hospital could receive was lowered from eight to four an hour over the two-hour period, but at no time did the hospital exceed that threshold, Professor Pearce said. At the same time, the matrix threshold at Blacktown Hospital increased from six to 10.
Two patients arrived by ambulance at Nepean Hospital between 3am and 5am on Monday, a spokesperson for NSW Ambulance said.
Secretary of the HSU NSW Gerard Hayes said the explanation was "outrageous".
Even if the hospital was still on the matrix in the central system, that was not the message paramedics were receiving, Mr Hayes said.
Two crews told the union that, when they arrived at Nepean Hospital during the two-hour period, emergency department staff asked them what they were doing there. Hospital staff told the paramedics the hospital was off the matrix, according to the HSU.
Crews were also advised over the radio and by an operational manager not to go to Nepean, the HSU said.
"There is no question that HSU members were advised that Nepean Hospital was off the matrix early Monday morning," Mr Hayes said.
"Rather than engage in damage control and a witch hunt against whistleblowers, hospital management should focus on the resourcing shortfall that led to this problem."