By LOUISE EDDY AND TIM KELLY
AN 87-year-old WW II veteran waited in the Bathurst Base Hospital emergency department for 48 hours before a bed was found for him at the weekend.
Mr Joe Cowan arrived at the hospital by ambulance from Blayney early Saturday morning.
His grand-daughter Shevahn Telfser of Bathurst said Mr Cowan broke his arm three weeks ago but was taking a long time to recover.
She said he was feeling unwell on Saturday morning and couldn’t get out of bed so the community nurse indicated he had to be hospitalised.
Mr Cowan’s wife is 85. The couple lives at home.
Blayney Hospital was closed for admissions over the Christmas period so he was transferred to Bathurst by ambulance and admitted to the emergency ward.
He was assessed and then spent the whole weekend waiting for a bed.
“I’m very disappointed. Bathurst has a new hospital but poorer services than we had two years ago,” Mrs Telfser said.
“My grandfather is a proud man. He served his country. He spent 40 years delivering Meals on Wheels. He is an active member of the RSL and Legacy.
“Now, when it is his turn to get something back, he is left sitting like a slab of meat in the emergency ward. It’s shameful,” she said.
Finally Mrs Telfser became so frustrated she rang the director of nursing on Sunday night and demanded a bed be found for her grandfather.
Later that evening he was taken to a ward.
“He was upset and felt like this was it, the end, that he wasn’t going to make it out of here,” she said.
“He was very tired and freezing cold. The staff were run off their feet on Saturday night and no one had time to bring him a blanket.
“By Sunday morning he was very disoriented and quite distressed. Now we will have to wait and see if this trauma has set his recovery back further.
Mrs Telfser said her beef is not with the emergency department staff, but with the bureaucrats.
“It wasn’t until I kicked up a stink that a bed was found. What happens to those poor old souls who have no family,” Mrs Telfser said.
“They [the Health Service] are all about how much money can be saved by not admitting patients or by sending them home too early when it should be about how we can get them better.
These older people supported their communities and paid their taxes yet they are just shunted around like they don’t matter.
“I think it makes a really sad statement about
society that our old people are so afraid of going
to hospital. They know that the health system
looks at them as quite dispensable.”
Just 18 months ago Mr Cowan was presented with the RSL Meritorious Service Award for his lifetime of dedication to the welfare of returned service men and
women.
Mr Cowan has been a member of the Blayney Sub-branch of the League for 50 years and served as the secretary for over 25 years.
My Cowan joined the RSL in 1950 after serving with the AIF in World War II.
Joe Cowan serviced in the Militia during the early years of World War II with the 2nd Tank Attack Regiment
based at Cowra which he said was known unofficially as the Blayney Unit because of the high number of residents
from his home town that were members.
Joe said he spent two years on the so called Brisbane Line waiting for the Japanese invasion that never came
“Thank God”, he said. He volunteered in 1941 for overseas service and was deployed to New Guinea with the 2/2 Anti-Aircraft Regiment.
SERVICE REGRETS DELAY
The Greater Western Area Health Service has apologised for the delay elderly patient Joe Cowan experienced in being admitted to Bathurst Base Hospital.
GWAHS Eastern Cluster General Manager Narelle Davis said a number of community and private-based services, including GPs, close or reduce services over the Christmas and New Year period putting an increased demand on the public health system.
“I am advised that the patient mentioned did not wait for 48 hours to be admitted, although regrettably he did experience a delay before he was admitted to a ward bed,” Ms Davis said.
“During this time however the patient was provided with appropriate quality care, while being closely monitored in a bed within the Emergency Department.”
Ms Davis has also denied that policies are in place to reduce the number of elderly patients admitted to beds in Bathurst Base Hospital.
“Approximately 60% of bed days provided in the public health system support patients that are older than 65 years of age,” Ms Davis said.