The Health Service is working to improve the doctor situation at Inverell Hospital emergency department in the early part of next year.
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But until then, the same locum system will continue.
Hunter New England health rural and regional executive director Susan Heyman said she understood the community was anxious and she was working hard to find a better alternative to locum doctors.
Ms Heyman said the locums had provided very good service for the nine months to October with only 11 occasions in that time when a doctor had not been on duty for periods as short as two hours.
But there had been 14 occasions during the last few weeks when a doctor had not been on duty. Only two local doctors were signed up to work rosters at the hospital.
The department planned to put in place a better system to cover the emergency and GP clinic with continuous doctor staffing.
Ms Heyman hoped the new arrangement would be in place in the early part of the new year but she couldn’t give a date as yet.
A tender process for a more consistent arrangement had now closed and submissions were being assessed.
The hospital has been under fire for the lack of doctors on duty at the hospital.
Ms Heyman said Inverell was part of a network that staff could rely on for assistance and the critical care camera in emergency was a great asset.
It turned on with a flick of a switch and it gave a doctor or nurse immediate access to the expertise of consultants in the network – at Armidale, Tamworth and John Hunter hospitals. She said it was like having a consultant in the room.
Inverell Shire Councillor Paul King is the latest resident to find no doctor on duty at emergency.
“The staff were excellent and looked after everyone who came in with care and empathy,” Cr King said. “But it is disgusting that there was no doctor there. They are spending $30m to upgrade the hospital – the first thing they need to buy is a doctor.
“Sure, they have the teleconference but it is not the same as having the person in front of you where you can see the wound, see their body language.’’
Cr King fractured his ankle when he rolled it.
