Hundreds of nurses working in overcrowded ICUs have written an emotional open letter to Gladys Berejiklian begging for more staff as Covid cases are set to skyrocket.
The NSW government released modelling showing COVID-19 cases will increase into September, with significant pressure on hospitals to follow in October. However, the modelling will not be released in full, leading to uncertainty from frontline staff.
The letter, obtained by News, was co-signed by intensive care healthcare workers around the state describing their 'extreme concern' at the lack of appropriate conditions both for nurses and for patients in NSW hospitals.
'Given the chronic unsafe staffing conditions, exacerbated by Covid-19, we cannot deliver the care you expect us to provide and the level of critical care our patients rightly deserve,' the letter reads.
'We are extremely concerned about our ability to provide safe nursing care under the current staffing levels afforded by the NSW government to ICUs around this state.
Hundreds of nurses working in New South Wales's overcrowded ICUs have written an emotional open letter to the premier begging for more staff and better conditions
The open letter to Premier Gladys Berejiklian described the 'chronic unsafe staffing conditions' that NSW nurses are currently working under and begged for more support
'Given the chronic unsafe staffing conditions, exacerbated by Covid-19, we cannot deliver the care you expect us to provide and the level of critical care our patients rightly deserve,' the letter signed by hundreds of NSW nurses reads
'Never before has there been such a crucial time in NSW where ICUs should be properly staffed to avoid preventable patient outcomes.
'We urge you and your government to urgently fix the ICU staffing crisis. It cannot wait.'
NSW is six weeks away from the most significant pressure ever placed on its intensive care systems as health care workers brace for a 'difficult and exhausting' period ahead.
Despite the repeated referrals to the modelling, it will not be released in full, as confirmed by NSW Health.
'From time to time NSW Health obtains COVID-19 related modelling,' a spokesperson said.
'After public discussion around the capacity of the state's ICU resources to cope with the current outbreak, the NSW government asked NSW Health to collate modelling to do with ICU capacity. That modelling was released today.'
However, modelling from the Burnet Institute reveals even at the pandemic's worst phase for the hospital system - expected in late October and the first half of November - authorities don't believe ICU occupancy will reach anywhere close to the surge capacity of 1550
