Medical coverage at Kurri Kurri Hospital’s Emergency Department

28 December  2007

Hunter New England Health would like to advise the community that there will be no doctor on duty at Kurri Kurri Hospital’s Emergency Department on two periods in the next week.

This includes from 8am to 8pm on Friday 28th December and 8pm Monday 31st December until 8am Tuesday 1st January.

Lower Hunter Cluster General Manager Yvonne Patricks said the emergency department will remain open and will be staffed by highly skilled nurses who can provide assessment and immediate treatment.

“If someone presents to the Kurri Kurri Emergency Department during these periods, they will be triaged by a nurse and if necessary transferred to Maitland or Cessnock hospitals,” she said.

“However, if people know they need emergency medical treatment, they should go straight to the Maitland or Cessnock hospitals, both of which are approximately 10 minutes away.”

Ms Patricks said one of the doctors that provided after hours emergency medical coverage at the hospital has recently retired and despite best efforts, they have been unable to cover some of his shifts at short notice.

“We remain committed to working with the local Visiting Medical Officers to ensure we can provide continuous after hours medical coverage into the future,” Ms Patricks said.

“We are also hopeful that our recent advertising will be able to attract some new GPs to the local area who will be able to participate on the after hours on call roster and ease the load of the current five doctors providing this service.”

Other health care providers in the local community, including the Ambulance Service, have been notified of the gap in emergency medical coverage at the hospital.

Contact: Tanya Carlyle

Phone: 4985 5522