18 NSW hospitals 'dangerously overcrowded'

[creampie]

The New South Wales Opposition says new figures supplied by the government show 18 of the state's hospitals are dangerously overcrowded.

The Australian Medical Association (AMA) warns it is unsafe for bed occupancy rates at hospitals to be above 85 per cent.

However, figures tabled in parliament show 18 hospitals are operating above that level - with Sydney's St Vincent's Hospital topping the list at 99 per cent of bed capacity.

The opposition's health spokeswoman Jillian Skinner says that is dangerous.

"I would have expected the government to take note and to work on overcrowding and opening more beds," she said.

The Health Minister Carmel Tebbutt is defending the system.

"A bed occupancy rate of 85 per cent would in fact mean that there would be some 3,000 beds on any given day across New South Wales that are not being used," she said.

Ms Tebbutt says a 2008 report into the health system by Peter Garling SC found it was possible to operate hospitals safely above 85 per cent of capacity.

"He in fact said it was mischievous to to suggest that studies had made any assertion about the safety of hospital services when an 85 per cent bed occupancy rate is exceeded," she said.

"In fact he put the bed occupancy rate at between 92 and 95 per cent."

Other hospitals above 90 per cent of capacity include Liverpool and Prince of Wales.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010 ... 036801.htm