The media representation of Australian hospital emergency departments (EDs) is largely negative – and has not changed in the past 20 years.

A new paper, in the latest edition of the journal PLOS ONE, looked at print and online stories from major news outlets between January 2000 and January 2020.

The researchers found very little praise for EDs, with most of the stories focusing on problems and their potential causes.

Lead author, Research Fellow Dr Elizabeth Austin of the Australian Institute of Health Innovation’s Centre for Healthcare Resilience and Implementation Science, specialises in researching emergency departments.

“There aren’t very many good news stories about EDs, and they tend to be highly politicised,” she says.

“The stories are usually about long waits for care or mistakes that have been made, so they focus on people who’ve had bad experiences, with comment mostly being sought from political or government spokespeople, associations, or doctors.

“We saw very little of the consumer’s voice in a positive way, and nurses and allied health professionals were rarely given the opportunity to comment.

“It was difficult to cross-check any supporting figures being quoted because there was often no source given in the story.”

Dr Austin says the way the media represents EDs is important because it not only affects the morale of the workforce but has the potential to reduce public confidence in an essential service.

“If you think your local hospital isn’t going to do a good job of looking after you, or that you’re going to be left waiting for a long time, then you might delay seeking urgent care, and that obviously has the potential to be very dangerous,” she says.

“We’re already talking about a workforce that is exhausted, stressed and seeing a high turnover of staff, and if on top of that your workplace is being criticised in the media when you’re doing the best you can, it’s demoralising.

“During the pandemic, there was a shift and suddenly frontline health workers were being presented as heroes, but sadly we’re already seeing that slipping.

“Like in the film, Groundhog Day, the news media is stuck in a loop, reporting the same narrative over and over again.”