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Residents have shared their treatment experiences with health services as part of a parliamentary inquiry into the proposed split-up of the Hunter New England Local Health District.
People have also voiced particular concern with various processes in the health system including telehealth, being unable to be admitted and a lack of options regarding palliative care.
Some submissions have raised alarm about alleged misdiagnosis or failure to seek further information.
One patient recalled being taken to the Wee Waa Hospital by ambulance suffering severe pain. The patient was treated via telehealth.
After telling the doctor about previous back problems, the patient was told to take painkillers and that the pain should subside in 24 hours.
“At no point did he ask the nurses to put me on my side and indicate where the pain was coming from,” the submission read.
The pain did go away. Six months later, the patient reported blood in their urine.
After attending a local GP clinic, and undergoing tests, a large tumour was discovered in the patient’s ureter, between the left kidney and the bladder.
“When I saw the cancer specialist in Tamworth he informed me the tumour would have been growing for over 12 months, and the probable cause of my fall and pain in the previous November, had been the tumour sealing the tube and causing back flow of urine into my kidney,” the submission read.
“Had I been referred for further testing, my cancer would have been discovered earlier. The specialist gave me two choices. I could wait four months to have surgery in a public hospital or three weeks in a private [hospital]. At this point my specialist was not optimistic of my chances of survival.
“So I chose to pay a significant amount and opted to have surgery in [Tamara Private Hospital].”
A local mum told of having to move away from Wee Waa, closer to Tamworth, due to concerns about a lack of after hours care at Wee Waa Hospital and a son who suffers convulsions. She said moving away from Wee Waa was hard and voiced concern with families being forced to move away due to the restrictive services.
Others have voiced concerns with palliative care, and Wee Waa residents being unable to be in the town in their final moments surrounded by family.
Oddette Avery told the inquiry of her father’s ordeal after having to relocate to Tamworth to access medical services.
“This made it very difficult for all our family as we all lived in Wee Waa,” she said.
“If the hospital was running to full function he could have spent his last days at Wee Waa in the palliative care ward where, by the way our local community has raised funds for, with all his family by his side, but instead we didn’t get to say our last goodbyes.
“That is not fair and something we will never get back.”
In her submission, Odette also voiced concern with hospitals going the way of banks in reducing hours and saying no one is using the service and ultimately closing down.
“If we have after hours needs, we have to travel to Narrabri 40kms away or sometimes sent onto Tamworth three hours away, which only puts more pressure on these already overworked hospitals,” she said. “I hope whoever has the power to do something about our Wee Waa Hospital steps up and fixes this mess.”
In her submission, Wee Waa resident Jenny Hatton explained how she had to be cared for on her brother’s farm as Wee Waa Hospital was operating on restricted hours and she had received morphine injections for sciatica.
After becoming unwell, Jenny had to be taken to Narrabri Hospital by ambulance, however, could not be admitted as no beds were available. She had been kept in the emergency department for several hours. While she made attempts to leave, she was too weak to walk and ultimately had to be taken to a family member’s car in a wheelchair.
“The facilities in Wee Waa are there,” Jenny said in her submission.
“We have a medical practice that has offered to give VMO service to Wee Waa Hospital. We have nurses who would return to work if there was access to a doctor (in person, not telehealth) at the hospital. Newcastle is too far away for administrators to understand the danger and inconvenience the ‘temporary’ restricted hours of Wee Waa Hospital has on our community and on Narrabri and other hospitals in our network.
“The lack of urgency of HNEH to get our hospital opened 24/7 is unsafe. This would not happen at a town closer to Newcastle.”
A similar submission also recalled being taken to Narrabri Hospital, however, also not being admitted due to a lack of beds.
In the submission, a wife recalled that her husband spent 36 hours in the emergency department after falling out of his wheelchair at home.
After being sent home, he was in bed for a week and cared for by his wife.
In another submission, a local mum explained how her daughter had been able to initially be seen by Wee Waa Hospital when it had been open during a period of flood isolation. Her daughter suffered an eye injury.
After being transferred to Tamworth for eye surgery and stabilised, she was further transferred to Sydney.
The mother credited the Wee Waa Hospital for being open after hours in that period, so her daughter be stabilised and transferred onwards to Tamworth.
The woman also voiced concern that a local elderly couple had been separated in their dying moments.
As reported by The Courier earlier on in the submission process, an elderly woman had been caring for her dying husband.
After suffering a heart attack, the woman was transferred to hospital in Tamworth while community members arranged care for the husband.
As Wee Waa Hospital was operating on restricted hours, and Narrabri Hospital was at capacity, the wife was kept in Tamworth where she sadly died.
The husband died in Wee Waa soon after, with the couple unable to comfort each other in their final days.
“They should have been able to spend their finals days together in Wee Waa Hospital,” the submission read.
“It has become quite common for Wee Waa residents to pass away in other hospitals just because they can’t be transferred back to Wee Waa as there is no VMO at the hospital.”
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