{"id":242272,"date":"2026-01-20T09:24:09","date_gmt":"2026-01-20T09:24:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/242272\/"},"modified":"2026-01-20T09:24:09","modified_gmt":"2026-01-20T09:24:09","slug":"patients-relocated-at-calvary-mater-hospital-after-maggot-discovery","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/242272\/","title":{"rendered":"Patients relocated at Calvary Mater Hospital after maggot discovery"},"content":{"rendered":"

Patients at a New South Wales hospital have been transferred to another facility after maggots were discovered in their room.<\/p>\n

The pests were found in the haematology ward of the Calvary Mater Hospital in Newcastle yesterday.<\/p>\n

The ward has been closed until further notice while the hospital addresses the contamination, including through fumigation.<\/p>\n

It is the second ward to be closed at the hospital this year.<\/p>\n

A cancer ward was shut down earlier this month due to a mould infestation in the air-conditioning system.<\/p>\n

\"mould<\/p>\n

Mould was found on an air-conditioning grill at the Calvary Mater Hospital. (Supplied: Troy Stolz)<\/p>\n

In a statement, a spokesperson from Hunter New England Health said flies were reported in the room at the Calvary Mater Hospital, with maggots found on the floor while contracting cleaners were mopping.<\/p>\n

The spokesperson said the safety of its patients is its top priority.<\/p>\n

“The affected four-bed room, where pests were discovered today, was vacated immediately and sealed off.”<\/p>\n

The spokesperson said some patients will be transferred to another facility, while others will move to another section of the hospital.<\/p>\n

“To allow specialist pest controllers access to the affected areas, patients from the ward are being temporarily relocated to other parts of the hospital.<\/p>\n

“A small number of clinically stable patients will be transferred to another facility, where they will continue to receive the care they need,” it read.<\/p>\n

Hunter New England Health said it was taking all of the necessary steps to resolve the issue quickly and thoroughly.<\/p>\n

A class action case is currently underway to uncover what happened to patients exposed to a mould in the Calvary Mater cancer unit.<\/p>\n

XD Lawyers are gathering expressions of interest from people who have been impacted.<\/p>\n

\"Troy<\/p>\n

Troy Stolz said he wasn’t surprised when he heard maggots had been found at the Calvary Mater Hospital. (ABC Upper Hunter: Courtney Yeandle)<\/p>\n

‘It’s not acceptable’<\/p>\n

Troy Stolz, who is a former cancer patient at the hospital and still visits the cardiology unit, said he was not shocked when he heard about the maggots in the ward.<\/p>\n

“It’s no surprise we’ve got a maggot issue, but it’s just not acceptable.<\/p>\n

“Why is it acceptable in regional New South Wales? It’s just not good enough,” he said.<\/p>\n

\"Mould<\/p>\n

Mould was discovered in an air-conditioning vent in the cancer ward. (Supplied: Troy Stolz)<\/p>\n

“This hospital needs to go back to being run by the government; this partnership has failed dismally.”<\/p>\n

Mr Stolz said a thorough investigation of the hospital needs to be done.<\/p>\n

The NSW Nurses and Midwives’ Association said it is concerned by the latest developments at the hospital.<\/p>\n

In a statement, general secretary Michael Whaites said the union is seeking urgent information from management.<\/p>\n

“We are awaiting clarification of the source of the pest discovery and whether this was a result of poor integrated pest management within the facility.”<\/p>\n

Health minister wants long-term solution<\/p>\n

Health Minister Ryan Park said he has told the hospital and the contractor the issue needs to be fixed as quickly as possible.<\/p>\n

“We’ve shut off and sealed the area,” he said.<\/p>\n

“Those patients have been moved to other parts of the hospital. Of course, that’s not a satisfactory outcome from my perspective.<\/p>\n

“We’ve been able to resolve it in the short-term, but we need a long-term fix going forward.”<\/p>\n

Mr Park said he wants answers on how the situation occurred.<\/p>\n

“I will get a full report in relation to that particular issue,” he said.<\/p>\n

“I’ve already spoken to the secretary [of the hospital] about making sure we’re on it and getting it fixed as quickly as possible.”<\/p>\n

The minister said the mould issue, which closed another ward, is a separate issue that the health department is dealing with with the contractor.<\/p>\n

The Calvary Mater Hospital operates under a public-private partnership, with Calvary Health Care and Novacare running operations at the health facility.<\/p>\n

When asked if the partnership was to blame for the mould and maggot issues, Mr Park said it is not a model he supports.<\/p>\n

“We need to get these services back in public hands, it’s not that easy, though,” he said.<\/p>\n

“When government has these contracts with these operators, then we have to honour those contracts otherwise, the taxpayer is up for a very significant sum of money.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Patients at a New South Wales hospital have been transferred to another facility after maggots were discovered in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":242273,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[134,527,142321,142320,142322,111,139,69],"class_list":{"0":"post-242272","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-healthcare","8":"tag-health","9":"tag-healthcare","10":"tag-mater-hospital-class-action","11":"tag-mater-hospital-maggots","12":"tag-mater-hospital-mould-newcastle","13":"tag-new-zealand","14":"tag-newzealand","15":"tag-nz"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/242272","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=242272"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/242272\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/242273"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=242272"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=242272"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=242272"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}