The Australian Paramedics Association has named the entrance to Milton Ulladulla Hospital’s emergency department the “worst on the South Coast” and called on Shoalhaven City Council to fix it.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The dubious title was handed down due to the significant dip where the tarred road joins the concrete driveway.
Australian Paramedics Association (APA) vice president Glenn Congram said they are concerned about a number of issues including patient incidents, paramedic safety and ongoing vehicle damage.
If we’re trying to bring a patient with any sort of spinal injury in then the bump is enough to do serious damage.
- Glenn Congram
“We do in the vicinity of 450 jobs a month and every job involves us going in and out of that driveway,” he said.
“APA members spend our time treating patients, giving pain relief and stablising them before we bring them to a hospital with a substandard driveway that undoes all our work.
“We often tell our patients ‘the roughest part of the trip is the hospital driveway’. They think we’re joking, but we’re not.”
When vehicles enter or exit the driveway they must drive up and down the steep driveway, resulting in the undercarriage hitting the roadway and passengers receiving a substantial jolt.
“If we’re trying to bring a patient with any sort of spinal injury in then the bump is enough to do serious damage,” Mr Congram said.
“When we’re doing medical retrievals or transfers for critically ill patients by helicopter, we have thousands of dollars worth of equipment on board that is at risk of being damaged.
“We spend a longtime stablising a patient for transfer and even the slightest movement can dislodge an incubation tube, putting them in danger and further delaying important treatment.”
Mr Congram said another problem is the speed at which vehicles must use the driveway.
“We have to drive into and exit the driveway so slowly that we are putting ourselves and out patients at risk of being hit,” he said.
“There area lot of heavy traffic and trucks on the highway, especially over summer.”
Despite the entrance to the ED adjoining the Princes Highway the patch of land is managed by council, not the state government.
“We maintain the road up to the edgeline, white painted line, anything past that is council’s responsibility,” a Roads and Maritime Services spokesperson said.
Shoalhaven City Council was advised of the problem by the Times and that the driveway maintenance fell under their management.
Council promptly inspected the driveway and said they will fix it next year.
“Council has carried out an inspection to ascertain what the exact problem is in the road/driveway,” a spokesperson said.
“At this stage council has scheduled to fix the cracks and pothole in the area and will rehabilitate the section in the next financial year.”
However, Mr Congram doesn’t want to roll the dice with safety and would like the problem fixed sooner.
“Every time it comes down to money,” he said.
“’We don’t have enough money’ or ‘there is nothing left in the budget’.
“It is inconceivable that a driveway, let alone a hospital driveway, can be left that steep and that rough.”
