Renowned journalist Jamelle Wells has described as "inhumane", the treatment her father received at Dubbo Hospital before his death two years ago.
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Ms Wells was one of almost 20 witnesses who gave evidence at the Parliamentary Inquiry into health services in regional, rural and remote NSW on Friday.
She described a series of incidents at the hospital where 85-year-old Allan Wells, was being treated for a broken hip.
They included that he was left "begging for food and water" over a long weekend because the hospital was understaffed, that he went into cardiac arrest hours after they fought a plan to discharge him, and that he was wrongly labelled as a 'dementia' patient.
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"All eyes are on country towns in the state's west right now because of the threat of COVID, there's concern and panic about hospitals not having enough resources," Ms Wells said.
"It's even been called a humanitarian crisis. Well, this was a reality before COVID, and I experienced it with my 85 year-old dad two years ago."
She thanked the frontline staff who tried their best to help, but said they were "unsupported in a big base hospital that was over-burdened and under-resourced".
Mr Wells had two operations in five days. His daughter told the inquiry that "hours after we fought an attempt to discharge him he went into cardiac arrest".
"Staff then suggested not resuscitating him, even though he had a full resuscitation plan in place. My Dad defied their expectations and he pulled through.
"What happened next, was inhumane. Dad begged for food and water on a long weekend because a manager said the hospital could not afford to roster someone on to do tests to see if he could eat and drink safely.
"Soon after that I read a front page story...about a new $30 million car park for Dubbo Hospital...how a decision gets made about using hospital funding in that way just beggars belief."
She went on to say that the ward ran out of morphine and panadol.
"Staff with no geriatric care training wrote 'dementia' on Dad's records, even though he never had any reason to be diagnosed with it and he passed all hospital acuity tests 100 per cent."
She was charged $600 for her father's medical records, which were "shambolic", with missing information and records from another patient mixed in.
Ms Wells said Western NSW LHD informed her they did not have room to "fit her feedback" into a review of Dubbo Hospital, for the NSW Health Minister. The Minister intervened and her feedback was included.
The Western NSW LHD has been contacted for comment.
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