SONIA Hornery has called on the Health Minister to address "failing infrastructure" at the John Hunter Hospital.
The State Member for Wallsend said that the ongoing problems with air-conditioning not working during heat wave conditions had prompted her to move a Notice of Motion on Thursday.
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In a statement, Ms Hornery said hospital management had failed to have engineers assess and repair the air-conditioning system over the Australia Day long weekend due to costs, and left staff to face public anger.
"Families should never have to pay for a fan to keep a patient cool in a public hospital," she said. "Nurses and hospital staff should not have to work in these types of conditions. It is the State Government's responsibility to ensure the hospital's air conditioning is properly maintained. When it fails, it should be repaired immediately, not left for two days because of cost concerns. Management should not be leaving nurses to take the flak from patients and the public. This shows there are budgetary issues for hospital maintenance and some senior hospital staff have raised their concerns with me."
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Ms Hornery said she was also concerned staff felt they needed to fundraise for shower facilities for parents of children staying in the hospital's Paediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU).
"The John Hunter Paediatric Intensive Care Unit is one of the largest PICUs in the state," she said. "Often patients who need intensive care are airlifted here from locations right across the state, so it is not possible for them to leave the hospital and go home to freshen up.
"We have seen it in schools with P&Cs being left to fundraise for air-conditioning or repairs and now we are seeing it in hospitals with staff having to fundraise for bathroom facilities," she said. "It is not good enough."
