'Like a zombie apocalypse': Adnaan waited 23 hours at Westmead Hospital

Westmead Hospital has the longest emergency wait times in Western Sydney At work one afternoon in late August, a sudden wave of pain hit Adnaan with such force he could barely stand. The pain in his abdomen and shortness of breath was so intense he left work early, hoping bed rest might ease it. By 5pm, it had worsened and he made the call to go to Westmead Hospital's emergency department. "My dad came rushing upstairs and he saw that I was drenched in sweat," he recalled. But when he arrived, he was confronted with what he can only describe as a "scary" scene. "It just felt like a zombie apocalypse,"he said. "It was pretty much full, all the seats were taken, people were on the floor, some people were standing." Adnaan, who wants to be identified only by his first name, spent the next 23 hours waiting on a hard chair. By the next afternoon, with admission still hours away and no bed in sight, he decided to leave against medical advice, despite being told his kidney was slightly ruptured. He said staff told him there were only three doctors on for 144 patients. "They said to me very clearly that we do not have anything available right now … we've got no beds,"he said. Westmead worst performing in Western Sydney Health figures released this month show Westmead, one of Sydney's largest hospitals, has the longest ED wait times of any hospital in its own district. Just 49.1 per cent of patients start treatment on time, the lowest rate in Western Sydney, below Auburn, Mount Druitt and Blacktown. The average wait is six hours 30 minutes, compared to a state average of three hours 49 minutes. The median time for patients admitted or transferred was 16 hours 35 minutes, up 81 minutes on last year, the steepest deterioration of any measure at the hospital. The Australian Medical Association's NSW president Fred Betros said the data showed EDs were under unprecedented pressure, with a record 395,000 ambulance responses statewide last quarter and a sharp rise in the sickest patients. "They bypass the front door, they go straight into places like our resuscitation bays," Dr Betros said. "The people out front with less urgent but still serious conditions … just wait longer." He said such experiences like Adnaan's were common. "I'm a general surgeon so I do a moderate amount of on call … I spend a significant amount of my time every on-call shift bringing patients out from the front of the emergency department, apologising to them that we don't have a bed for them," he said. Health district apologises, points to rising demand Western Sydney Local Health District, which runs Westmead, said the hospital was the district's major tertiary and quaternary referral centre and one of the busiest in the state. It said Westmead saw a higher volume of complex, critically unwell patients than other hospitals in the district, including major trauma cases and patients needing advanced diagnostics. A district spokesperson said it understood long waits could be distressing for patients and their families and apologised to those who waited longer than expected for care. The district confirmed it had also reached out to apologise directly to Adnaan for the distress he experienced during his stay. Minister points to bed block NSW Health Minister Ryan Park acknowledged the wait times were "not good enough", and pointed to bed block, where aged care and NDIS patients are stuck in hospital awaiting package placements, as a key driver. Minister Park also personally called Adnaan to apologise for his experience. "This is not a buck passing exercise, it's just the reality of an acute hospital,"he said. NSW Health said one in eight ED-accessible beds statewide could not be used because patients were stuck waiting on aged care or NDIS placements, up from about one in 10 in 2025. The government said it had committed $35.7 million to an Aged Care Response Package, and $38 million specifically to Westmead for more beds, staff and services, though Westmead missed out on a separate $130.7 million short stay unit expansion at six other hospitals. NSW Opposition Leader Kellie Sloane said the government was not delivering. "They keep talking about additional beds but they haven't delivered any of them," she said. Federal government pushes back A spokesperson for the federal Department of Health said a January funding deal delivered an extra $25 billion in hospital funding nationally, including $6.5 billion to NSW over five years. The spokesperson said the Commonwealth also offered states a ring fenced $2 billion specifically for aged care, which the states rejected, choosing to direct the funding into hospital systems instead. "We worked with the states and territories in good faith, and it is now time for them to deliver on their promises," the spokesperson said. The department pointed to a $3.7 billion aged care investment in this year's budget and about 5,000 additional aged care beds being built nationally each year. Shaping up as a key voting issue With Western Sydney one of the fastest growing regions in the country, Dr Betros said capacity in the region's hospitals had not kept pace. "We're already at that stage where we can't absorb any more demand," he said. "Goodwill's only going to go so far." With the NSW election due in March 2027, Dr Betros said hospital wait times would shape up as a key election issue. "The people of Western Sydney … actually deserve better health care," he said. Adnaan's pain has since eased with medication, but he still does not have a diagnosis and is waiting to see a specialist. "I feel like if we can't even fix something as simple as the hospital system, then a lot of people will lose their lives," he said. "It's made me rethink … who I do vote for."