Concerns regarding Campbelltown Hospital raised by a respected Macarthur paediatrician highlighted the seriousness of the health crisis engulfing the region, says Campbelltown MP Greg Warren.
Dr Andrew McDonald, a former Macquarie Fields Labor MP, said the region’s rapid population growth had placed a significant burden on the local hospital – with staffing numbers not keeping pace with the population growth.
“It will take another 20 years of graduating doctors to even touch the workforce shortage,’’ Dr McDonald said.
“All hospitals in western Sydney are understaffed and ask any fourth year medical student where they want to be interns and it will be in the east, as the western Sydney workload scares them off.
“We (staff at Campbelltown Hospital) still have trouble meeting the increase in growth.
“The challenge for Campbelltown Hospital over the next 15 years is going to be not just building the hospital but also staffing it because it’s one thing to build it but another to staff it.
“What we haven’t seen is a commitment from this state government to staff the hospital to levels that are equivalent with the rest of Sydney,’’ Dr McDonald said.
“Simply, when staffing numbers don’t meet demand the care isn’t as good.”
Call for more resources: Labor MP Mr Warren and paediatrician Andrew McDonald outside Campbelltown Hospital.
Mr Warren says he has repeatedly called for an increase in staff and services at Campbelltown Hospital due to the rapid growth and the lack of existing services at the hospital.
With the Department of Planning and Environment predicting the population of Macarthur will more than double by 2036, Mr Warren, the community and local medical professionals have pleaded with the state government to establish new services – including a paediatric intensive care unit at Campbelltown Hospital.
However, the state government has refused to create a paediatric ICU at the hospital.
“Here we have one of the region’s leading paediatricians saying we are at crisis point yet the state government refuses to listen,’’ Mr Warren said.
“The premier is quick to highlight how much the government is spending on the Campbelltown Hospital redevelopment, but she refuses to divulge any real details on future services or staffing numbers.
“Macarthur residents want to see the devil in the detail, not more artist’s impressions.
“A big, new hospital is useless unless there are adequate services and staff – but the Premier and her Liberal counterparts can’t guarantee that now, let alone in 20 years’ time.
“Under this government seriously sick children still have to travel to Westmead and Randwick for specialist care, paramedics can’t get to critically ill patients on time, and emergency department waiting times continue to fall well below accepted benchmarks,” Mr Warren said.
