As restrictions ease and travel begins to open up, it is expected that cases of COVID will spike around the state, with a steady influx of new patients potentially requiring treatment, are our local and regional facilities equipped to cope?
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As part of a series on regional health, the Mudgee Guardian spoke to a number of people who all say they're concerned that the current systems in place are not sufficient.
CEO of the Rural Doctors Association of Australia (RDAA) Peta Rutherford said border restrictions make it difficult to move staff in where it's needed.
"I think that the issue is when you get multiple outbreaks in multiple sites, so the Commonwealth has done a lot with RFDS [Royal Flying Doctor Service], and various others in relation to creating some surge capacity," she said.
"If you get multiple outbreaks in regional communities, that's again, another challenge. And it's what's happening at the moment is because of the really tight border restrictions, the mobilisation of the medical workforce is so limited.
She said despite assurances we're already seeing local health services stretched to their limit.
"We already had workforce shortages across rural and remote New South Wales, including Western New South Wales. NSW Health, the Minister and the Premier have all given a level of reassurance around surge capacity, the reality is, if there's multiple outbreaks, or if there's pressure on Sydney hospitals, the surge capacity is actually very limited.
"What we do know is vaccinations will reduce people's chance of requiring ICU care, and critical illness, but we may still see a number of patients requiring hospitalisation now, my understanding is that there has been work done particularly in Dubbo, to create additional bed capacity to compete to care for COVID patients. And that's all very welcome. But we also need to make sure that our small rural hospitals are well prepared, have all the access to the PPE that's required, regardless of whether it's a COVID hospital or not, because, in reality, anyone could walk through the door, and a whole range of precautions needs to be taken."
'I'm worried'
Hugh Bateman has fought many times for improved health facilities in the Mid-Western region, most recently his fight for an MRI machine in Mudgee which still does not offer the service, instead patients are forced to travel to Dubbo.
"From what I can hear, see and read, once we're over the 80 per cent mark, the numbers are going to increase and it's going to be tough," he said.
"I hope there are going to be enough beds and we have enough nursing staff to cope.
"The strongest message I could possibly think of is that once we're out of lockdown and because we've reached the 80 per cent mark does not mean people can go back to their old ways and do what they want without any respect to this virus. This virus is here to stay with its variants so we must learn to change our attitude in every way, shape and form.
"I'm worried. I really hope they're not overwhelmed."
Region is well prepared
Answering a question from ACM's Andrew Fisher, Chief Executive of WNSW LHD, Scott McLachlan said the region is well prepared.
"We've got a network of 38 hospitals across the region and a big network of state-wide hospitals as well that are well-prepared for if we had further cases emerge against in Western NSW. forecasting at the moment tells us that at our current number of cases we've got more capacity than we need for all of the care of patients with COVID," he said.
"One of the real successes in Western NSW has been our covid care in the community program that's cared now for over 800 people in their homes and without needing to come to hospital and it's a program at a level of care that - I think we've set a new national standard around how we can help people keep well and healthy as well as can be with COVID. So that's been a great tool in our arsenal with helping to reduce number of people needing to come to hospital.
"A small number of people that have needed admission to intensive care and that number has been lower than the state has actually seen so we've done a lot of the forecasting and thinking around whether we do have the capacity and I'm sure we do for forward months to care for patients right across those three settings; In the community at home, in hospital general beds or in intensive care."
Beds are the issue
Councillor and businessman Paul Cavalier, who got into local politics when the fight for Gulgong Hospital was an issue said capacity is the thing letting down regional hospitals.
"I don't think we are well prepared at all, and I think it's important to take into account the availability of hospital beds in Rural NSW, as opposed to the number of cases. If you only compare case numbers between Sydney and rural NSW, for example, it appears that Sydney has it much worse," he said.
"While the numbers look that way on face value, the reality is that ICU capacity is already almost non-existent in rural NSW, even in recently upgraded hospitals such as Dubbo. Rarely, in hospital upgrades in rural NSW, do the state government make provision for additional beds and services. Mudgee's new hospital is a prime example, and it paints a bleak outlook for our regions.
"You cannot expect an already crippled health system to serve our residents well in a pandemic where the need for hospitalisation rises exponentially, and every facet of the health system, including all of the other organisations that support it, are stretched to their limits. We've seen numerous unprecedented situations during this outbreak, including situations where NSW Ambulance were receiving too many calls for assistance than they had resources available to respond. Opening up when we know case numbers will surge, is an almost certain fallacy in the entire plan for the health system, and concerning for the health and well-being of everyone that relies on it."