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Warrnambool Base Hospital emergency department staff are being pushed to the limit doing their best working in outdated facilities.
Space is so tight that eye tests are being conducted in the corridor and patients are continually being shuffled around to clear space.
South West Healthcare unit manager Annette Kelson and director of medical training Jo Brown gave insights into the pressures they face every day as the campaign for a major redevelopment gathers momentum.
Ms Kelson said frustrated staff were managing rising patient numbers and increasingly complex cases.
“We’re always swapping trolleys around in the emergency department and trying to reassess people so they aresafe to go somewhere else, because there may be someone sicker coming along,” she said.
“That is a huge hurdle.”
As summer approaches and Warrnambool’s population swells, staff are once again bracing for a busy period. Ms Kelson said outbreaks of gastro and injuries were common in warmer months.
A $112 million stage two redevelopment of the hospital that would upgrade the emergency room, first envisioned in 2005, has yet to be funded despite the department already operating beyond its intended capacity.
Dr Brown said one of the main challenges was the presentation of multiple patients at the same time.
“There was a car accident recently of non-English speaking people on a road trip from Melbourne down the Great Ocean Road and there were four of them in the car,” she said. “Trying to get information and trying to find out what was sore, trying to get interpreters, all of those things take a lot of staff time and effort and energy.”
Specific concerns raised by Dr Brown include a lack of appropriate waiting room space, the need for a negative pressure room to isolate infectious patients and the inadequacy of the resuscitation room in both function and size. She also said lack of privacy was a huge concern.
State government data shows 1442 patients were admitted to emergency in the latest quarter, compared with 1150 patients in the same period last year.
Population growth in Warrnambool and surrounds, an ageing population and its increasing role in servicing the wider region had all contributed to the squeeze on services, staff said.
Ms Kelson said often only the sickest patients were presenting to the department.
“We’ve kept stats on our category twos, which is people we need to see in 10 minutes, and with some of those we haven't been able to meet that,” she said. “They’ll arrive by ambulance and we'll have to clear areas in the emergency department to put them in.”
Dr Brown said the facilities were preventing staff from working to their capabilities.
“We want to keep our staff and we want our staff to feel challenged and valued, and that involves being able to treat people in an appropriate way,” Dr Brown said. “We have to keep up.”
