Monday 31 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 four periods this week.

Lower Hunter Cluster General Manager Yvonne Patricks said one of the doctors that provided after hours emergency medical coverage at the hospital has recently retired and also another doctor has unexpectedly fallen ill and despite best efforts, we have been unable to cover some of these shifts at short notice.

This includes from 8pm Monday 31st December until 11.30am Tuesday 1st January and from 7.30pm Tuesday 1st January until 8am on Wednesday 2 January.

“At this stage, other potential vacant shifts for this week include 6pm Friday 4 January until 8am Saturday and from 8am Sunday 6 January until 8am Monday 7 January – so we are now working towards covering these shifts, but if we are unable to, we want the community to aware now,” Ms Patricks said.

During these periods, 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.”

“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: Kay Cope

Phone: 0418 463 031