Blacktown Hospital patient forced to lie on floor of the emergency department for hours
Patients have been left lying on the floor for hours at Blacktown’s brand new emergency room.
A 7NEWS investigation has obtained pictures of one woman, who arrived by ambulance at 10am on an August morning.
Images taken at 8.30pm that same day showed her lying on a hospital pillow on the floor.
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By continuing you agree to our Terms and Privacy Policy.She hadn’t been moved at 12.38am the next morning or at 2.50am when the next pictures were taken.
A whistleblower, a family member of the woman, told 7NEWS the emergency room was “inundated beyond belief”.
“During the time there at the hospital she was left laying on the corridor floor in the emergency waiting room, to sleep on the floor, along with several other patients,” the family member said.
“We were only able to get a pillow and blanket due to knowing some people that worked inside the hospital sector.
“The waiting room was just inundated beyond all measure of belief.”
7NEWS has been sent more photos of another man and woman on the ground as well as a video of a woman in a wheelchair who claims she was left for “five hours with no oxygen”.
“I’ve had nothing to eat,” the woman in the wheelchair said.
Premier Chris Minns was asked on Wednesday about the situation at Blacktown emergency.
“I have to look at Blacktown in particular, there’s major stress on our public hospitals... we want to do better when it comes to health outcomes,” he said.
Attendances to the Blacktown emergency department are up by 10.5 per cent on last year according to Bureau of Health Information.
Shadow Health Minister Kellie Sloane said: “Something is going very wrong at the moment at Blacktown emergency department, it needs to be addressed.”
A nurse whistleblower at Blacktown ED also told 7NEWS the scenes shown are a “common occurrence”
“ It’s a big brand new beautiful hospital with an emergency room and wait room is not big enough.”
“When you don’t have enough chairs in waiting room you have people who make their own chair.”
See the family speak on 7NEWS Sydney tonight live on Channel 7 and 7plus.
