Hospitals across Sydney are under “significant strain” with growing Covid case numbers likely to worsen the burden for healthcare workers, the nurses’ union has warned, as the New South Wales health minister, Brad Hazzard, acknowledged virus exposure continued to place hospitals under “substantial pressure”.
Recently retired nurses and students studying the profession, as well as cancer screening workers, were now being called on to bolster a workforce facing an “enormous task” as the outbreak progressed.
Beyond healthcare staffing concerns, NSW health authorities had played down fears the hospital system was at the brink of collapse, insisting there was sufficient capacity of intensive care beds should the Delta outbreak further deteriorate.
As NSW announced 345 new locally acquired Covid cases on Thursday, there were 374 Covid patients in hospitals. Of the 62 patients being treated in intensive care, 29 required ventilation.
There were two deaths announced on Thursday, both men in their 90s, one of whom died in Liverpool hospital after becoming infected as part of the cluster associated with the hospital. The facility’s outbreak had so far been linked to seven deaths.
Liverpool hospital had been stretched for days, with Covid-positive patients transferred to Wollongong hospital to ease pressure on healthcare in the epicentre of the Covid outbreak in south-west Sydney.
Elsewhere, Nepean hospital continued to be plagued by staffing shortages resulting from Covid exposure.
There were now 10 cases linked to an outbreak in Nepean hospital’s mental health unit, which Hazzard acknowledged was under “substantial pressure” because its workers had been exposed to the virus.
While some have had to isolate for 14 days, others have been offered special accommodation to allow them to continue working on the ward, provided they wear full personal protective equipment, given the “specialist care required for patients” at the facility.
Brett Holmes, the general secretary of the NSW Nurses and Midwives’ Association, said there continued to be “significant strain on our public hospital system and it’s not about to ease any time soon, given the increasing numbers and how transmissible the delta variant is”.
Holmes said there were roughly 900 health workers in various stages of isolation because they had been identified as close contacts, something that was “taking a toll on the system”.
Holmes said hundreds of other nurses had been redeployed to work across either different wards within their current hospitals, as well as to other hospitals, vaccination and testing clinics, and to special accommodations housing hundreds of Covid patients who do not require hospitalisation but who cannot isolate at their residence.
“The health workforce is facing an enormous task. Not only are nurses, midwives and other health staff flat-out caring for Covid-19 patients, they’re also working hard to look after other patients, mothers and newborns, residents and mental health clients.”
Holmes said recently retired nurses as well as students still studying the profession had been called on to supplement the workforce.
The impact of staffing levels on a hospitals’ ability to function remained unclear. While Guardian Australia asked NSW Health questions about this, a spokeswoman responded with information about intensive care capacity.
The spokeswoman said there was a current ICU capacity of more than 500 beds across hospitals in the state, and that this could be quadrupled if required – including to a position where ventilators would be available for every ICU bed.
Meanwhile, the Breast Cancer Network Australia warned people who detect changes or lumps in their breasts to see their GP rather than wait for screening clinics and vans to reopen.
A number of BreastScreen NSW services had closed across the state during the Covid-19 outbreak because of the risk posed by the virus, as well as patient cancellations and the need to redeploy staff to aid the pandemic response.
The organisation said it had modelling showing that there would be minimal impact as long as women go on to screen once their program came back, but the network was concerned that closing the services would delay early detection, diagnosis and potentially life-saving treatment.
With AAP
