OPINION City EDs on life support too It is not just rural hospitals that are struggling to staff emergency departments. A recent experience I had at one of our largest metropolitan hospitals would suggest the problem is widespread. Last week I was referred to the emergency department at North Shore Hospital by my GP to determine if I had a serious issue that needed to be urgently dealt with.
Arriving at the North Shore Hospital ED around 5.45pm, with the referral from the GP written up and sent before I arrived, I was not seen by a doctor until 3.30am.
In the meantime, I sat in the ED with many other people, some of whom had been brought in by ambulance, some of whom had been referred by their GPs, and many walk-ins with pretty serious issues. While the stretched but highly competent nurses did initial analysis as best they could, it didn’t appear too many of us had seen a doctor - certainly when I was sent to a ward at 2am, I hadn’t. Except it wasn’t actually in the ward - I was put in a bed in the corridor of the Acute Diagnostic Unit, along with several other patients.
For the 24 hours I was in North Shore Hospital, I was a “wall hanging” in the ADU corridor, with the nursing staff continually apologising for us being stuck in the corridor..
