Nurses plea for emergency dept upgrade
Posted
Nurses from the Port Macquarie Base Hospital will hold a protest rally next week to highlight emergency department issues.
The nurses' association says the rally on Monday is not an industrial action as it will be in the nurses' own time.
Regional organiser Marnie Thomas says Port Macquarie's emergency department is overcrowded and potentially dangerous for staff and patients.
She says plans for a temporary upgrade are with the Health Department, but the emergency department has to be expanded immediately.
"There's been a lot of consultation about redeveloping the [emergency department]," she said.
"There had been plans drawn up, architects had visited, the nurses were consulted and then my understanding is that we simply don't have a time frame for that to keep going.
"Now the nurses have been very patient over the last couple of years, but they're starting to just see that it's getting way too crowded.
"It doesn't have the room that it needs for an emergency department that's that busy."
The North Coast Area Health Service says action has been taken to reduce pressure on the emergency department.
It includes more acute hospital beds and extra emergency department staff.
