NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet has personally apologised to a Sydney woman who was forced to wait outside a hospital as her mother diedxjmtzyw alone inside.
A heartbroken Gayle Roberts was visiting her mother Shirley Foster’s palliative care room at Campbelltown Hospital in Sydney’s southwest on January 30 when she was told to leave because visiting hours had ended.
Despite begging for more time with her mother as she was close to death, a nurse threatened to call security and have her escorted out of the complex if Ms Roberts refused to leave.
The triple-vaccinated woman arrived the next morning to see her mother, but was forced to wait five hours in her car while nurses renewed her visitor’s exemption due to Covid-19 restrictions.
By the time she was allowed in, her mother had died.
Ms Roberts’ husband, Peter, said the family was heartbroken Ms Foster passed away all alone.
“Gayle is devastated; emotionally she’s not stable … she cries on a continual basis,” Mr Roberts told 2GB’s Ben Fordham.
“The whole health system has just been out of control … it’s not a blame game, the people in the hospital are absolutely sensational, but the problem is with how the matter was handled.”
Mr Roberts explained how Ms Foster was transferred from the emergency department to a surgical ward because she was so frail and close to death.
“Gayle followed her up to the room and sat with her all Sunday and all of Monday until 10.30pm when she was asked to leave,” he said.
“She hasn’t been out of the hospital for 11 hours when she returned and then she was just blocked.”
In the week since Ms Roberts and her family were devastated by the treatment, the family was contacted by the executive medical director and general manager of Campbelltown Hospital.
While Ms Roberts said the system had failed her, the general manager said it wasn’t the system but “common sense that had failed” and it should “never have happened”.
Over the weekend both Mr Perrottet and Health Minister Brad Hazzard had also personally called the family.
Mr Hazzard first called on Saturday evening and spoke “at length” with the grieving couple.
“He was apologetic and said to us that he had issued a directive last week that palliative care patients should be treated with compassion and their family should be allowed in as they are approaching the end of their life,” Mr Roberts said.
Mr Perrottet also contacted the family and apologised for the behaviour, with NSW Health launching a full investigation.
A Campbelltown Hospital spokesman told NCA Newswire Ms Roberts should have been allowed to stay with her mother for “compassionate reasons”.
The hospital has given Ms Roberts its “deepest condolences” and said representatives have spoken with her to apologise for the distress caused.
“Like all NSW Health facilities, Campbelltown Hospital has temporarily restricted visitors due to increasing transmission rates with the emergence of the Omicron variant,” the spokesman said.
“At the request of the Health Minister Brad Hazzard, NSW Health last week provided updated guidance for hospital visitations to local health districts, which significantly expands the scope of compassionate exemptions for visitors.
“In addition to implementing the updated guidance, we are also conducting a thorough review of this incident and our processes, so we can learn from it and ensure it does not happen again.”
