A single doctor can treat up to three times as many patients at Milton-Ulladulla Hospital’s emergency department than his or her colleagues working in the Shoalhaven unit.
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On Sunday, one doctor treated 32 patients in Milton’s emergency ward between 7am and 2pm.
The hospital’s chair of medical staff doctor Brett Thomson said the figures were typical of Milton, where one doctor was on duty to cover the full load, compared to around six doctors who each treated about 10 patients over the same seven-hour period in Shoalhaven Hospital.
“One doctor is doing the job of three,” he said.
He said a review of staffing, as well as planning for an expansion of the emergency department needed to be “seriously looked at” by the State Government.
With an election just around the corner, he has called on candidates to commit to “putting Milton on the list for capital funding” for a “bigger, better resourced emergency department”.
While he welcomed a recent funding boost for a renal unit and palliative care ward at the facility, he said the emergency department was being forgotten.
“This has been an ongoing issue with the health service,” Dr Thomson said.
“The service is stretched and, even if we had more doctors on duty, there’s not enough room to work.
“We need a bigger and better resourced ED.”
Dr Thomson said the health service needs to begin planning for an expansion of the space and the workforce to ensure patient care and safety.
“We are at a tipping point,” he said.
“If it’s not looked at, we are going to see patients exposed to risk.”
Dr Thomson said doctors often “make do” by calling in additional nursing staff from other parts of the hospital if a number of complex cases present to the emergency department at the same time.
“There needs to be some serious planning in place,” he said.
“We want to see a light at the end of the tunnel.
“It’s an election year, so let’s see what the candidates have to offer our hospital.”
Illawarra Shoalhaven Local Health District acting director of clinical operations Suzanne Harris said, as a rural facility, Milton-Ulladulla Hospital’s emergency department (ED) has “suitable capacity to deliver a range of safe and clinically appropriate services for a hospital of this level”.
“There are solid systems in place to manage patients who require more specialised care while high demand periods for ED, including school holidays, are resourced appropriately,” she said.
“On the other hand, Shoalhaven Hospital is a larger and higher capacity facility, providing a broader range of diagnostic and medical services.
“This means that doctors and other clinical teams are seeing patients who are usually more seriously unwell than those presenting to Milton.
“Given these differences, it is difficult to make a comparison of the two ED’s based solely on numbers of presentations.”
However, Dr Thomson said Milton-Ulladulla Hospital was experiencing more complex cases and the diversity of presentations would increase in future as the population continues to grow.
Ms Harris said the health service’s chief executive Margot Mains was currently leading service planning workshops at Milton “where appropriate discussion around future services and other issues can occur”.
The Times will publish a response from election candidates Shelley Hancock, Fiona Phillips and Amanda Findley as part of its election 2015 coverage.
