Twelve months have passed since a critical shortage of nurses forced to the closure of all but one inpatient bed at Nyngan’s hospital and despite ongoing efforts the situation remains unresolved.

Five of the six inpatient beds at Nyngan MPS remain closed as well as 10 of the 36 beds in the attached residential aged care facility, the Mick Glennie Hostel.

The situation has been an ongoing source of frustration within the community with sick and elderly residents being transferred to other hospitals and aged care facilities more than 150km away for care.

Bogan Shire Mayor Glen Neill has been approached repeatedly by concerned residents unable to get their family members an acute aged care bed and recently had to travel to Dubbo when one of his own family members was unwell.

“It’s wrong. The politicians and bureaucrats we’ve spoken to all say they understand, but you probably don’t understand until you’re in the situation yourself where you’ve got a relative in hospital in Tottenham or Coonamble or Dubbo where they know no-one and you’re trying to visit them,” he said.

Clr Neill said the patient transfer to and from Dubbo was now a like a “milk run” picking up and dropping off patients unable to receive treatment locally.

His own relative was taken to the Dubbo Base Hospital emergency, despite not requiring such a level of care, because it had become the last resort way to get a bed for many elderly people.

“The doctor in the emergency ward asked me why he had been brought into emergency and I had to explain that it was the only way these people from small communities can get into the hospital system.” 

“We were told when the beds were first closed that this would only be for two weeks. Everyone we’ve spoken to says they’re doing everything they can to get more overseas nurses into the country and out to places like Nyngan. They tell us they have been advertising – but nothing seems to be working.”

Clr Neill said the issue was not with the current staff at the Nyngan MPS, who were doing their best to meet the community needs.