A critically ill patient spent four days in the new Maitland Hospital's Emergency Department (ED) this week because the wards were full.
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The wards are often at capacity, leaving patients stuck in the ED and a flow-on effect in the waiting room and for paramedics trying to offload their patients.
On top of that, hospital staff are exhausted and regularly doing 18 hour shifts to try to cover the shortfalls.
This is the worrying picture NSW Nurses and Midwives Association Maitland Branch delegate Monique Murray has painted of the city's $470 million hospital, which opened its doors six months ago.
Union members walked out of the hospital in despair on Thursday in a desperate attempt to have their voices heard. They say hospital management won't fix the problems.
"The staff are busting to provide everything they can and it's just never enough because we don't have the facilities to give the care that the patients deserve," Ms Murray said.
A Hunter New England Health spokeswoman said there was a rise in presentations to the ED, staff were off sick and NDIS and aged care patients were spending longer in hospital.
She said 20 extra nurses had been recruited to staff additional beds, hundreds of elective surgeries had been transferred to private partners and there was more virtual medical support for other local hospitals.
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Maitland MP Jenny Aitchison spoke about the nurses' plight in NSW Parliament on Wednesday and called on the government to provide more staff.
"We know that when Emergency Departments are failing, it is a sign that our entire hospital is under too much pressure and that impacts everyone in the health system," she said.
While Ms Murray was talking to The Mercury during her break earlier this week, one paramedic had been waiting almost two hours to hand over their patient to a nurse.
"They are stuck waiting at a patient's side for a bed ... they are no longer on the road to attend to cardiac arrests," she said.
Ms Murray said the patient who was stuck in the ED for 4 days required a bed in the Intensive Care Ward, but it was full. She said that ward was often at capacity and management routinely took resources from other areas to try to keep up with patient demand.
She said hospital management would have known about the unprecedented pressure on staff before the facility even opened its doors for the first time.
She said the move from High Street to Metford handed them a larger patient catchment area, which had previously been shared between the Mater and John Hunter hospitals.
"The staff have had enough and this is just one of many attempts to be heard," Ms Murray said.
"The pressure to do those 18 hour shifts is real. You know what happens if you leave, what it will be like for the ones who are left. It's absolutely horrendous."
The HNEH spokeswoman said it constantly reviewed its operations and considered "workforce requirements and the ability of additional beds that can be surged when required".
"We work very hard to avoid asking staff to do overtime, using casuals and agency staff to fill
deficits, and redeploying staff around the hospital to areas with the highest need," she said.
"The unprecedented demand this winter has meant that in some cases we have had to request overtime from staff to ensure we can continue to provide high quality care to our patients."
Port Stephens MP Kate Washington, who represents some of the new catchment area has also thrown her support behind hospital staff.
NSW Labor called on Minister for Regional Health Bronnie Taylor in parliament this week to explain the Bureau of Health Information data, which shows 1 in 5 patients leave the Maitland Hospital ED without receiving any treatment.
Ms Aitchison said she "failed to give an adequate answer", instead blaming GPs and aged care access.
"They are not funding the staffing for our hospitals adequately," she said.
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Belinda-Jane Davis
Passionate about community news
Passionate about community news
