Ambulances were forced to bypass a major hospital in Sydney's west on Monday morning after Nepean Hospital's emergency department reached capacity, paramedics and hospital staff say.
The hospital was too overburdened to take new patients from about 2am, prompting staff to request NSW Health take the hospital "off the matrix", the system used to direct NSW ambulances to the nearest, most clinically appropriate emergency department.
For two hours between 3.30am and 5.30am, ambulances were diverted to other hospitals.
A paramedic crew transporting a patient suffering a serious cardiac event was initially told to leave the hospital and take the patient to Westmead Hospital, according to the Health Services Union NSW.
Nepean emergency department eventually accepted the patient only after paramedics pleaded with staff, stressing it was a life-threatening situation.
"It's extremely rare for a major hospital such as Nepean to be taken off the matrix, normally this only happens in the case of power failure or technical fault," paramedic and HSU delegate Greg Bruce said.
"Paramedics should never have to argue the toss when someone is suffering a cardiac event. It just shows how short-staffed hospitals are in Western Sydney."
HSU NSW secretary Gerard Hayes said taking the major hospital off the matrix for two hours was "simply beyond belief".
"Nepean Hospital covers a population base stretching from Katoomba to Blacktown," Mr Hayes said.
"Even more alarming is that this happened in the early hours of the morning in the middle of summer.
"Normally our hospitals face these crises in the middle of winter."
Intensive care doctor and chairwoman of the Nepean Hospital Medical Staff Council Nhi Nguyen said the decision to request an ambulance bypass was "never taken lightly".
"The reason was a combination of sicker patients presenting to our ED , and no available hospital beds to transfer patients who had already been admitted," Dr Nguyen said.
She stressed no patients who arrived at the ED were turned away, and all patients in the ED were treated appropriately.
A spokesman for Nepean Blue Mountains Local Health District said the hospital experienced extremely high demand on Sunday, with 217 presentations to the ED.
"To help ensure the safety and care of patients, the hospital requested a reduction in the number of patients from NSW Ambulance for a two-hour period early on Monday morning. The emergency department was not closed at any time," the spokesman said in a statement.
The spokesman confirmed a patient who was brought to the ED by ambulance with a suspected heart attack just after 4am was triaged immediately.
"At all times the hospital continued to accept ambulances conveying critical patients with life-threatening conditions," he said.
No ambulance arrived and was then turned away from the hospital, a spokesperson at NSW Ambulance said.
In November Mr Baird and Health Minister Jillian Skinner announced a much-awaited $576 million upgrade to Nepean Hospital, including a new emergency department.
Nepean's emergency department is one of the busiest in the state, with some of the longest wait times for patients in need of emergency treatment.
Labor Health spokesperson Walt Secord and member for Londonderry Prue Car demanded Ms Skinner explain to the community why Nepean Hospital was taken off the matrix.
"It is absolutely unacceptable in Australia for a major teaching hospital's emergency department to be put on diversion," Mr Secord said.
"In an emergency situation, every minute counts. This meant that patients were transferred to other hospitals, adding extra time to their journey to hospital," he said.
Ms Car said: "The community deserves to know that if they call an ambulance in the Nepean area they will be taken to the nearest hospital and not diverted to Blacktown or Westmead hospitals".
Nepean Hospital ambulance Transfer of Care for the financial year to November was above the target at 92 per cent, 9.1 percentage points higher than the same time the previous year.
