THE NSW Health Minister, Jillian Skinner, has described as ''shocking'' an allegation that an elderly patient lying on a trolley waiting to be admitted to St Vincent's emergency department was told to urinate in her clothes.
But St Vincent's Hospital, which is investigating the claim, denies it has a crisis in its emergency department.
The incident comes after the Herald revealed emergency patients had been left for up to six days on trolleys in a corridor after surgery because of bed shortages.
''I would not describe it as a crisis, I would describe it as a difficult situation,'' said David Faktor, a hospital spokesman.
The elderly patient, suffering a staph infection, was waiting on a trolley in a corridor near the triage desks on Monday last week, he said.
Mr Faktor said it was ''certainly not policy'' to allow patients to urinate in their clothes. ''For a hospital that values human dignity, we have seriously fallen down here,'' he said.
Since breaking the story about the corridor unit, the Herald has received 10 accounts of patient stays in what St Vincent's calls the medical and surgical transit unit.
Their complaints included: not enough nurses, overcrowding, not enough meals for every patient, dirty bathrooms and lack of privacy or patient confidentiality.
The St Vincent's emergency department carries a large load of Sydney's drug and alcohol patients.
Mr Faktor said: ''In light of the unit's existing accommodation issues, the hospital is examining an option to fast-track this relocation to a larger interim area in the next month.''
He originally blamed St Vincent's blocked emergency department on a ''bad winter'', citing a 7 per cent increase in ambulances arriving at emergency compared with the previous winter.
But the Herald has interviewed patients who stayed for nearly a week in the corridor in May last year.
''For me it was like Third World,'' said John Tzantzaris, a 42-year-old Sydney teacher, who stayed in the corridor for six days in December last year.
Mr Tzantzaris, who was recovering from a post-operative elbow infection, said the corridor was understaffed and had two dirty bathrooms that emergency patients were forced to share with day surgery patients and their visitors.
''I can't fault the nurses,'' Mr Tzantzaris said. ''They were stretched and under-staffed.''
The Herald also revealed this week that patients have been left for days on trolleys at the crowded Royal North Shore and Dubbo Base hospitals, in rooms intended to hold patients for several hours.
The Health Minister, Mrs Skinner, has come under heavy criticism after her recent announcement that she will cut $775 million from the health budget over the next four years.
''Patients and their families who feel they have not received best care in our public hospital system should immediately raise their concerns with hospital management,'' she said.
