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Hospitals in crisis

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Our hospital system is cracking. Doctors know how to fix it but no one will listen

Staff are being attacked and corridors are at times jammed with sick people. Doctors who see the horror have ideas to fix it, but are not allowed to talk about it.

  • Neil Mitchell

Latest

The final report into the RPA fungus cluster is released on Friday.

More than 100 NSW hospital construction sites probed after fungus fail

Authorities have identified the most likely source of the outbreak that caused the deaths of two patients at a prestigious Sydney hospital.

  • Angus Thomson and Kate Aubusson
Shadow health minister Libby Mettam.

‘Robbing Peter to pay Paul’: WA women’s mental health beds to be used for aged care patients

The Cook government’s winter health strategy will see the number of women’s mental health beds at the Cockburn Health facility shrink by one-third, according to a leaked letter.

  • Hamish Hastie
Elsie McGribben, 88, was in the Midland hospital corridor for nearly 48 hours.

Family of grandmother left in Midland hospital corridor for 48 hours lash WA health system

Elsie Gribben’s family took her to the hospital on Tuesday after she was complaining of leg pain and picked her up two day later without a diagnosis.

  • Hamish Hastie
AMA federal president Dr Danielle McMullen said the report confirmed public hospital systems “remains stretched beyond its limits”.

Queensland emergency departments hit 10-year low, report shows

A nationwide review of public hospitals showed significant strain on Queensland’s public healthcare system, with only half of patients presenting to emergency seen within the recommended window.

  • Courtney Kruk
Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital.

Heart surgeons stood down amid staffing ‘crisis’ at major Perth hospital

Documents released to this masthead under Freedom of Information laws detail challenges Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital’s cardiothoracic surgery unit, largely throughout 2024 and 2025.

  • Holly Thompson
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Health Minister Ryan Park and Sydney Local Health District Deb Willcox have faced tough questions on the deadly fungus cluster at Royal Prince Alfred Hospital.

How a deadly fungus cluster exposed NSW’s wicked hospital problem

Many of NSW’s 4400 hospital buildings are ageing and riddled with mould, but a $940 million upgrade of one Sydney hospital may have disturbed spores deadly to some of its sickest patients.

  • Angus Thomson and Michael Ruffles
Mould uncovered at Sydney’s RPA Hospital.

‘Ongoing pigeon problem’: Hospital review finds 112 maintenance faults

The NSW government’s snap review comes after health workers raised patient safety concerns over fungus, mould and pigeon infestations.

  • Kate Aubusson
The state government had already announced plans to close Cumberland Hospital by the end of next year.

Independent team to oversee troubled Cumberland Hospital

Three people have died in incidents allegedly involving patients who had absconded from the 175-year-old facility, which will be replaced by a new complex at Westmead next year.

  • Angus Thomson
Matthew Large and Pramudie Gunaratne

The Sydney hospitals where nurses are expected to be prison guards

Alleged killings are predictable when hospitals are treated as prisons, a senior psychiatrist says, as the use of Section 19b orders has become a lightning rod.

  • Kate Aubusson