{"id":276075,"date":"2025-11-10T19:53:16","date_gmt":"2025-11-10T19:53:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/276075\/"},"modified":"2025-11-10T19:53:16","modified_gmt":"2025-11-10T19:53:16","slug":"cardiac-patient-reveals-urgent-surgery-at-sydney-public-hospital-was-cancelled-four-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/276075\/","title":{"rendered":"Cardiac patient reveals urgent surgery at Sydney public hospital was cancelled four times"},"content":{"rendered":"

With each chest pain, Ian Parker wondered if the latest twinge was the start of the heart attack he had been warned could strike at any moment.<\/p>\n

“You start second guessing every chest pain, you go, ‘Oh, is this something?’ because you’re constantly told if something happens, go to [the emergency department],” Mr Parker said.<\/p>\n

On June 6, the 58-year-old was referred for urgent coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) surgery, or triple bypass, at St Vincent’s Hospital in Sydney.<\/p>\n

His operation was classified as a category one, meaning it should be done within 30 days.<\/p>\n

Mr Parker said his doctor wanted him to have the surgery earlier if possible.<\/p>\n

“He stressed how urgent it was and that I was at great risk of having a cardiac event if I didn’t have the surgery soon,” he said.<\/p>\n

\"Man<\/p>\n

Ian Parker believes a statewide review of planned surgery waiting lists is needed. (Supplied: Ian Parker)<\/p>\n

Over the next three months, Mr Parker was booked in for the CABG four times at St Vincent’s Hospital.<\/p>\n

Two of those appointments were cancelled in advance, while the other two were called off on the day of his booking.<\/p>\n

“Two of those dates I went into St Vincent’s, got there at 6:30 in the morning to the pre-operative area, was prepared for the operation, put on the gown, and then several hours after waiting I was told that they couldn’t proceed with the surgery because there was no ICU [intensive care unit] bed available,” Mr Parker said.<\/p>\n

“I came home and I was emotionally upset, it was very upsetting.”<\/p>\n

In a statement, a spokesperson for St Vincent’s Hospital Sydney said it was “committed to ensuring our patients have access to safe, high-quality, and timely health care”.<\/p>\n

“We acknowledge Mr Parker’s surgery was postponed a number of times and sincerely apologise for the inconvenience and distress caused to Mr Parker,” the spokesperson said.<\/p>\n

“The majority (93.5 per cent) of St Vincent’s Hospital Sydney patients receive their planned surgery within clinically recommended time frames.”<\/p>\n

ABC story triggers alarm<\/p>\n

While Mr Parker waited, he learnt of another cardiac patient’s experience at Westmead Hospital in Sydney.<\/p>\n

Joshua Maxwell had waited more than 200 days for open heart surgery<\/a>, despite being allocated category two surgery, which should be done within 90 days.<\/p>\n

“I saw that story that [the ABC] did about him and that’s what triggered me. I’m going, ‘Wow, am I in the exact same position here?'” Mr Parker said.<\/p>\n

\"Man<\/p>\n

Joshua Maxwell’s experience at Westmead Hospital inspired Ian Parker to speak out. (Supplied: Joshua Maxwell)<\/p>\n

The story prompted him to lodge a complaint with St Vincent’s Hospital on September 17.<\/p>\n

“This has been extremely disruptive and distressing to my life,” Mr Parker wrote.<\/p>\n

“I am told the issue is a lack of ICU beds, not the physical availability but the staffing of them.”<\/p>\n

He received a reply from St Vincent’s Hospital within 30 minutes.<\/p>\n

His surgery was booked in seven days later and was completed successfully.<\/p>\n

“My concern is if I hadn’t written that letter, would I have had the surgery even now?” he said.<\/p>\n

\"Man<\/p>\n

Joshua Maxwell says he is “touched” that his experience inspired Ian Parker to advocate for himself. (ABC News: Jenae Madden)<\/p>\n

Mr Parker also received a response from NSW Health Minister Ryan Park, who apologised for the delays.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“This is not the standard I want to set for people seeking help in NSW,” Mr Park wrote.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Mr Maxwell said while he was “touched” that his experience inspired Mr Parker to advocate for himself, he did not believe patients should be put in that position.<\/p>\n

“I’m horrified to find out there are other patients that are waiting far longer than we’re ever told,” Mr Maxwell said.<\/p>\n

“What’s the point in giving us documents that tell us we’re going to wait 30 days or 45 days and then have us wait 100 days or 200 days or more?<\/p>\n

“How many people have died in that time? Do we have statistics on that?”ICU blockages<\/p>\n

The delay Mr Parker experienced at St Vincent’s Hospital was not isolated.<\/p>\n

A document tendered to the Special Commission of Inquiry into Healthcare Funding in 2025 stated the hospital’s ICU capacity had led to many surgery cancellations.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“Increasing access block in ICU has resulted in 100 cancellations of surgical patients requiring an ICU post-op bed during 2022-23,” the document read.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“These cancellations and delays of treatment also impact on patient outcomes and theatre utilisation.”<\/p>\n

Mr Park said the NSW government had reduced overdue surgery waiting lists from 14,500 patients to about 2,500 since it was elected in 2023.<\/p>\n

“When people don’t get their elective surgery on time, that’s always something I’m concerned about,” he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Man<\/p>\n

Ryan Park does not believe a statewide review of elective surgery waiting lists is necessary. (ABC News: Simon Amery)<\/p>\n

After Mr Maxwell revealed the delays to his own surgery, the minister announced a review of Westmead Hospital’s surgical and screening waiting lists.<\/p>\n

He had previously launched a review of the re-categorisation of cancer surgeries at Orange Health Service<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Mr Parker said all of the state’s hospitals should be scrutinised.<\/p>\n

“It definitely needs to go statewide because it’s a problem,” he said. \u00a0<\/p>\n

Mr Park said he met with NSW Health secretary Susan Pearce and senior executives each week to discuss issues, including elective surgery waiting lists, and did not support a statewide review.<\/p>\n

“I don’t think a statewide review around elective surgery at this stage is necessary other than to say \u2026 that this is something I will continue to prioritise,” he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"With each chest pain, Ian Parker wondered if the latest twinge was the start of the heart attack…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":276076,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[64,63,137,160190,500,9049,160192,2887,16862,101273,160191,160189],"class_list":{"0":"post-276075","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-healthcare","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-health","11":"tag-health-minister-ryan-park","12":"tag-healthcare","13":"tag-heart-surgery","14":"tag-ian-parker","15":"tag-joshua-maxwell","16":"tag-nsw-government","17":"tag-st-vincents-hospital","18":"tag-surgery-delays","19":"tag-triple-bypass"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/276075","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=276075"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/276075\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/276076"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=276075"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=276075"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=276075"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}