With over 4,000 buildings under NSW Health, including 220 hospitals, of varying ages, in a state that has endured a spate of severe weather events, it is unrealistic to pledge that there will never be maintenance issues.
We know that governments of all persuasions have experienced these challenges that have been reported publicly including mosquitos at Liverpool Hospital in 2019; crickets at Goulburn Hospital in 2021; beetles at Coffs Harbour Hospital in 2020; mould at Wyong in 2013; and asbestos, leaking roof, and a possum at Concord Hospital in 2016.
I now know of maintenance issues not known to have been reported in the media including flies at Royal North Shore in 2019; birds at Westmead in 2017; cockroaches at Wyong in 2017; possums at Balmain in 2012; pigeons at Gladesville in 2017 and bird lice at Tamworth in 2022.
I've got to be upfront, I can never pledge that there will never be maintenance issues. Any government that does is not being realistic or truthful.
But I can pledge that the health system will work as quickly as possible to rectify them.
Processes are in place in our local health districts for staff to report cleaning or maintenance issues.
From what I understand the local maintenance teams generally address these and make them safe promptly. Many of the issues I have been asked to comment on were swiftly addressed.
However, sometimes an issue may require different expertise to identify the root cause of a problem and consider if any further building maintenance work is required, which can take time.
At a statewide level, NSW Health meets identified targets for hospital acquired infections (HAIs). The Clinical Excellence Commission and the NSW Ministry of Health monitor HAIs as part of normal performance measurement and monitoring. It is also worth noting that all hospitals who have undergone independent assessment against the national standards have met those standards over the past two years. This includes the specific standards related to hospital cleanliness.
This week, I ordered a snap review of all recent or outstanding serious or non-routine hospital maintenance issues to give me an overall snapshot of the progress being made across our state's health system.
So far, this snap review has identified 112 non-routine issues over the past year - 74 resolved; 32 being rectified; and 6 are being looked at more closely, these include:
- 9 in Hunter New England, 5 resolved and 4 being rectified.
- 5 in Western NSW, 2 resolved and 3 being rectified.
- 1 in Murrumbidgee - being rectified.
- 1 in Southern NSW - resolved.
- 8 on the Mid North Coast - largely the result of severe weather events - of which 7 are being rectified. 1 is being looked more closely at.
- 10 in the Illawarra Shoalhaven, 8 resolved and 2 being rectified.
- 3 on the Central Coast - 2 resolved and 1 being rectified.
- 1 in Nepean Blue Mountains - being rectified.
- 5 in Northern NSW with mitigations in place but planning for upgrades in progress.
- 12 in South East Sydney - 10 resolved and 2 being rectified
- 27 in Northern Sydney- 26 resolved and 1 being rectified
- 17 in Sydney - 10 resolved, 7 being rectified
- 1 at South West Sydney -being rectified
- 12 in Western Sydney - 10 resolved and 2 being rectified.
Some items requiring further work to fully rectify include:
- Ongoing challenges with pigeons at RPA and Tamworth
- Roof rectification works at Muswellbrook
- Roof rectification works at four facilities in Northern NSW
- Mould and maintenance issues with hydrotherapy services in the Mid North Coast
- Water ingress from storm damage and plumbing issues at Coonabarabran
It is important to note that this review remains in progress and I expect more issues to be added to this review moving forward.
