An unprecedented influx of patients stretched inner-west hospitals to breaking point last week as thunderstorm asthma victims inundated emergency departments.
More than 1200 patients passed through emergency at Footscray and Sunshine over a 48-hour period after Monday night’s sudden weather change triggered respiratory problems in people across the city.
Six deaths have been linked to the thunder- storm asthma event. They include Hope Carnevali, 20, who died on the front lawn of her family’s Werribee home.
More than 8500 people were hospitalised and Ambulance Victoria was flooded with more than 1800 calls – more than six times its usual daily workload – after the storm hit Melbourne.
Western Health’s executive director of operations, Russell Harrison, said that at 1am on Tuesday 231 patients were in the Footscray and Sunshine emergency departments, while 18 ambulances were banked up at Sunshine.
“We started to have an increase in presentation from about 8pm,” Mr Harrison said.
“Around 9pm it started to become clear that this was a massive event across every hospital in the city.” He said emergency department doctors could recall no event like it.
He praised the patience of those seeking care and the response of Footscray Hospital staff who were “incredibly inventive” as they swung their emergency plans into action.
“It was certainly a challenge. A lot of our staff stayed on after their shifts and we had doctors coming in and senior managers on site to co-ordinate.”
Mr Harrison said a number of areas in the hospital were quickly converted into emergency triage spaces to help ambulances get back on the road and ensure those most in need were receiving rapid treatment.
Western Health has been pushing for redevelopment of Footscray’s decrepit emergency department, including a doubling of beds to almost 60.
Mr Harrison said even if the redevelopment had taken place, the magnitude of Monday night’s crisis would have overwhelmed the department.
State Health Minister Jill Hennessy said the Inspector-General of Emergency Management would conduct an inquiry into the resourcing and co-ordination of emergency services during the health emergency.
