‘Apology' to 70yo who slept on western Sydney hospital floor amid calls for review
The photos, posted to Facebook by the man's daughter Hayley Leatham, show Raymond lying down behind a row of chairs at Blacktown Hospital with a bag under his head.
Ms Leatham said the photos showed the 'sad reality of our public health system', and her father had waited more than 24 hours with life-threatening low haemoglobin.
The Western Sydney Local Health District, which oversees Blacktown Hospital, said in a statement on Wednesday it had reached out to Raymond to 'sincerely apologise'.
'Raymond has expressed his thanks for the quality of care he received from the hardworking staff at Blacktown Hospital,' a spokesperson said.
'All patients are seen and triaged on arrival at the ED with the most seriously unwell patients treated first.'
The spokesperson acknowledged that it 'can be challenging for people' when they were made to 'wait longer than they expect in an ED'.
'We thank the community for their patience during periods of high demand,' they said.
The spokesperson urged anyone with non life-threatening injuries to call Healthdirect, as hospital visitations surged over the winter months.
NSW Nurses and Midwives Association Blacktown Hospital branch vice-president Jess Kybert said the situation at the hospital was the worst she had ever seen.
Speaking as a member of the union, she said staff were burnt out amid an unprecedented surge in cases over winter, an always busy period for hospitals.
She said that while not allowed to let patients sleep on the floor, 'the horrific thing is the floor becomes the next best option' due to a lack of beds.
The incident also sparked political mudslinging between the Labor state government and the Liberal-Nationals opposition in NSW.
Premier Chris Minns lay significant blame at the feet of the former Coalition government, though admitted more needed to be done.
Opposition health spokeswoman Kellie Sloane on Wednesday called for an 'urgent review' into the situation at Blacktown and Westmead hospitals.
'Western Sydney is under enormous pressure,' the Vaucluse MP told 2GB's Ben Fordham.
'They have unique needs across our state, high areas of chronic illness, diabetes is the highest in the nation.
'In those areas, we've got big migrant populations, and Covid exacerbated this.
'So, I'm not saying there are easy answers, but we need to make a start.
'We need to have a review that begins at Blacktown Hospital.'
Fordham released images of a woman identified as Anna Maria, who told the 2GB host that she had slept in her car while waiting for emergency department staff in Blacktown.
'Anna Maria says, a week ago, I was taken to Blacktown Hospital with a bowel obstruction,' Fordham said.
'I waited 24 hours in the waiting room because there were no beds.
'I was so tired that my husband parked the car out the front of the ED so I could lay down and have a rest while the staff are doing their best to manage a chaotic situation.'
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles

ABC News
23 minutes ago
- ABC News
Bloody Good Tour aims to save lives and beat blood donation record
Simon Braun is out for blood. Quite literally. The father of three has spent the past year driving around the country with his kids, visiting the nearly 80 Lifeblood centres across Australia. "Simmo" said he hoped to enlist more than 33,000 new blood donations, donating plasma himself about every fortnight. But tens of thousands of kilometres in a caravan, distance education, and regular donations have not drained him. "Donating blood energises me," he said. Donating blood has been a constant bright spot through Mr Braun's challenges. He recalled sitting in the donor chair during a "dark time" in his life, and feeling "genuinely happy" for the first time in a long time. He joined the dots. There have long been barriers to blood donation for many people. This month, Lifeblood relaxed its rules around sexual activity and donation. Gay and bisexual men and transgender women who have sex with men were allowed to donate plasma. Lifeblood said it was working towards similar changes for whole blood and platelet donation. In 2022, people who were in the UK during the "mad cow disease" outbreak were allowed to donate again after a 22-year ban. Lifeblood researcher Rachel Thorpe said while safety for donors and recipients was the priority, the organisation hoped to get as many people as possible in the blood donation chair. "Ultimately we would like more people to be eligible to donate blood," she said. Being in the regions has also stopped people donating, with Lifeblood centres concentrated in cities. WA has no permanent centres north of Perth, and the NT's only permanent centre is in Darwin. There are pop up centres in some regional towns, and Lifeblood also has mobile "blood buses" to allow country people to donate. But ultimately, cities and regional centres have the most potential with 90 per cent of Australians living within half an hour of a donor centre. And for people who could not regularly donate, Dr Thorpe said having people such as Mr Braun start the conversation was a big help. "A lot of people don't really talk about blood donation, it's one of the big barriers to donating blood," she said. Dr Thorpe said common "misunderstandings" often stopped people donating. One of those was people believing they were too old to donate — a myth Dr Thorpe was keen to bust. Australians can be a first-time donor until they are 75, and if they have already donated in the past, there is no upper age limit. Fear of needles has been another common setback. But Mr Braun said that was not necessarily a bad problem to have. "It's actually quite a privilege to be able to, with courage, face your fear head-on," he said. He encouraged nervous donors to keep recipients front of mind. "Maybe that's the five-year-old with leukaemia who doesn't get a choice about whether they get the needle or not," he said. But in the thousands of conversations Mr Braun has had about blood donation in the past year, the common theme was not fear, or lack of information, or distance. It was time. "Everybody's busy these days," he said. "In fact, you ask someone how they are and they say 'busy'." His answer to the dilemma was simple. "A blood donation takes maybe seven minutes with a needle in the arm for whole blood, and you're in and out in half an hour," he said. Mr Braun and his family have been documenting each leg of their journey on The Bloody Good Tour website. The culmination of the tour will be a national record attempt on July 31. Mr Braun will be donating in Sydney, where the tour wraps up. But he has asked people from all over the country to sign up to his donor team, to reach the most donations in a single day by one team. The number to beat is 523: a record set by Commonwealth Bank employees in May. "With a bit of cheek, we can't let a bank hold the record," Mr Braun said.

ABC News
an hour ago
- ABC News
BTN Newsbreak 25/07/2025
STEPS IN A DAY You might have heard some people say you need to walk 10,000 steps a day to stay healthy. But where did that number even come from? Now, a new study has suggested otherwise. As we all know, walking lots is really good for us. It keeps our hearts healthy, our bones strong, and our minds clear. And since the 1960's, 10,000 steps a day has been the gold standard. But apparently, there's no science behind that number. It's why Katherine and her team decided to do some research of their own. Right now, there's no exact number of steps kids should be doing daily, but the Department of Health suggests 60 minutes of exercise a day is optimal. STARLINK OUTAGE If you were using Elon Musk's Starlink internet service this morning, you might've found things were a bit slow. Mr Musk took to his platform X this morning to apologise, after the internet provider suffered a huge outage, with at least 60,000 people globally reporting internet issues. It's become a pretty important service for people in Australia's outback, where high-speed internet can be pretty patchy. Starlink says the outage was caused by a software services issue, and that things should now be back online. COMIC-CON Thousands of people from all over the world have travelled to San Diego for one of the world's most popular comic conventions, Comic-Con! When Super Mario characters, Batman, and a giant banana come together under the one roof, it can only mean one thing: it's time for Comic-Con! Comic-Con was started in San Diego back in the 1970s, by a small group of comic, movie and science fiction fans, and was a true comic book convention. Since then it has grown into a global phenomenon and has become more of an opportunity for fans to dress up like this. Comic-Con has also become an important place for actors and Hollywood producers to promote new projects, although they seem to be a little more absent from this years Comic-Con. Over the next couple of days more than 100,000 fans will be able to attend panels, workshops, meet artists and creators, and get unique merch and collectibles! BOW TIES FOR ANIMALS First up, to 18-year-old Darius in the US who has turned his passion for sewing into a business that helps save animals. He's raised more than 700 thousand bucks selling bow ties and donating them to shelters for animals to wear, which has helped them get adopted even faster. VULTURE PUPPETS Now to a zoo in Prague, where zookeepers have been using hand puppets to feed their new baby vultures. It might look a bit creepy, but they do it so that the birds don't get too close to humans, otherwise it might affect their ability to connect with other birds, and find a mate in the future. LEONARDO DA PINCHY And finally, to Leo the cat in New Zealand who's been wreaking havoc on his local community, stealing laundry from his neighbours' clotheslines and bringing his loot back home. He's earnt himself the nickname Leonardo Da Pinchy, and nothing is off the cards: undies, socks, even a 300 dollar cashmere jersey.


SBS Australia
an hour ago
- SBS Australia
When Home Heals: Dialysis and the Power of Staying on Country
For many Yolŋu people, being forced to leave Galiwin'ku for dialysis has meant separation from family, country, and culture - sometimes for years, sometimes forever. Chronic kidney disease, largely caused by lifestyle changes introduced through Western foods, has taken a devastating toll. For generations, Yolŋu people followed the rhythms of the seasons, knowing when and what to eat to stay strong and healthy. Traditional foods were naturally low in sugar and highly nutritious. But the shift to store-bought foods, soft drinks, and processed foods has led to widespread chronic disease - something that was once rare in these communities. In the past, when the winds come this way, we know what to eat. It's been passed over from my grandfather. What we feel through air, it's part of the grandfather that passed over to us, so we know exactly what to eat when the season comes. Charlie Dhamarrandji, Dialysis Patient In this episode, Dr. Sarah Hanieh speaks with Charlie Yebarrarr Dhamarrandji who shares his personal journey with chronic kidney failure and receiving dialysis treatment, and Kat Baxter, a dialysis nurse from Purple House, living on country in Galiwin'ku. Together, they discuss what it means to receive dialysis on country, the reality of chronic disease in remote communities, and how Yolŋu knowledge and traditions continue to play a vital role in health and healing. Two Worlds, One Health is created by Dr Sarah Hanieh Host : Dr Sarah Hanieh Production assistance : Lindy Marlow Artwork: Ruth Gulamanda Dhurrkay and Rickisha Banba Gurruwiwi Music : Djutjuti Nha Djamarrkuli, Shepherdson College, Galiwin'ku, Department of Education, Northern Territory. Mixed: Max Gosford Photos credit: Lindy Marlow Thanks to Joel Supple for her guidance. This podcast was recorded on the lands of the Yolŋu people in Galiwin'ku. I pay my respect to their Elders, past and present, and acknowledge their ongoing connection to the land, water, and culture Links: