By XAVIER SMERDON
THE Baillieu Government has been urged to fund the construction of an intensive care unit (ICU) at Werribee Mercy Hospital in a bid to curtail high bypass rates.
Speaking in Parliament last month the Member for Tarneit, Tim Pallas, said he was shocked by bypass figures at the hospital, revealed by Star.
The figures showed that hospital was on bypass – a two-hour slot where a hospital advises ambulances not to stop because it cannot take any more patients – for 153.4 hours in August and 72 hours in the first 12 days of September.
At the time the executive director of Mercy Health South Western Health Services, Richard Ainley, blamed the bypass rates on the lack of an ICU at the hospital.
“Werribee Mercy Hospital is a community hospital and does not have an intensive care unit on site which means that it generally has a higher bypass rate than other larger hospitals. For this reason we must rely on transferring very sick patients to larger facilities,” Mr Ainley said.
Mr Pallas told Parliament with Wyndham’s exploding population urgent action needs to be taken.
“With the current and looming population boom, Wyndham’s population is growing by almost 8 per cent, or 12 000 people, per year,” Mr Pallas said.
“Put another way, this equates to the population of Benalla being added to the local government area of Wyndham every year. It is imperative that the health services available in this community keep pace with the ever-increasing demand.
“The challenge for the Baillieu Government is to take the burden off the already over-stressed workforce who are constantly trying to do more with less, which puts patient welfare at risk.”
Star contacted the State Government for comment but they did not respond by deadline.
