Warrnambool, Portland emergency departments expecting huge pressure over summer

Portland District Health director of nursing Ros Nagorcka said the hospital would "struggle" to cover rostered shifts over December and January and was hoping to recruit new staff. Ms Nagorcka said patient demand at PDH's urgent care centre had risen sharply over the past few months, blowing out wait times, and was almost certain to grow over coming weeks.

"Historically our numbers increase over summer," she said.

Portland District Health relies heavily on agency nurses and locum doctors to fill its clinical rosters. Ms Nagorcka said the hospital had booked in extra agency nurses for the peak period, but staff were already working overtime and doing additional shifts to maintain existing services.

Ms Nagorcka said the COVID-19 pandemic had accentuated the difficulty PDH already faced in trying to attract permanent staff.

A spokesperson for South West Healthcare said Warrnambool Base Hospital also faced a challenging summer period.

"The Warrnambool Base emergency department is historically very busy over summer due to the large number of holidaymakers who visit the region every year," the spokesperson said.

"South West Healthcare has been proactively planning and preparing for the usual surge demand expected as a result of the tourist season and the fourth wave of COVID currently being experienced across Australia."

Wait times at the WBH ED have risen over the past year as staffing pressures combined with persistent patient demand, with some patients having to wait 10 hours before being treated.

The SWH spokesperson said the hospital had "worked hard" to ensure all shifts would be covered over the Christmas and New Year period, "however this will be depend on how we weather the current wave".

SWH has brought in two locum GPs to the critically understaffed South West Medical Centre in a bid to keep non-urgent patients out of the neighbouring ED.

The spokesperson said people coming to hospital with non-emergency health problems was "a consistent issue for EDs across Victoria". They said non-urgent patients should try to use other services such as the new virtual ED, or their local GP, but if they did come to hospital with a non-urgent problem they could face a lengthy wait.

"Patients requiring lifesaving treatment will always be seen first and on rare occasions, non-urgent patients may have to wait longer than the clinically recommended time... However, all patients, no matter their condition are regularly monitored by our experienced triage nurses."

The spokesperson said SWH had not had to pause or reduce elective surgeries, but the situation was reassessed on a daily basis according to how many staff were available.

They said "all staff have been working extraordinarily hard", with some having to work extra shifts in order to maintain staffing levels.