Since COVID hit, the Panorama Clinic, which provides mental health services, has been run as a "hospital at home" and its 12 beds were reallocated to the hospital's emergency department [ED].

Cr Aubin said when COVID hit, doctors submitted plans on how to best manage the hospital should it be swamped with COVID-19 patients.

Among the submissions adopted was temporarily closing the mental health clinic, with the ED absorbing the beds, six for overnight stays, six for short term patients.

A set up, which Cr Aubin said "worked brilliantly."

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However, Cr Aubin said the clinic has since re-opened, and the ED has lost the additional beds, seeing it become overwhelmed.

"The first day they transferred back to the Panorama Clinic the ED got bed blocked," he said.

"There were three ambulances waiting to unload patients with no where to go."

Given the success of the Panorama Clinic's hospital at home delivery, Cr Aubin said the time had come to rethink how Panorama Clinic operates.

"I know there is a case for mental health, but surely they can find another area within the hospital to house it, so the ED can utilise those beds," he said.

"The Government is throwing cash around, why can't we look at converting the old nurses quarters into the Panorama Clinic?"

"Those 12 beds were a godsend, now they have been taken back we're back to being bed blocked.

"It's a retrograde step and we need to look at what we can do to run Panorama Clinic as emergency beds, and place Panorama Clinic somewhere else.

"At the moment it's like a war zone, ambulances are outside and can't unload patients, and people are being treated in the waiting room."

Bathurst Health Service's Acting General Manager, Meegan Connors conceded the Bathurst Health Service has been busy over the Christmas and New Year period.

She said the Bathurst Health Service has been busy over the Christmas and New Year period.

"This increase is not unusual for this time of the year, however not all presentations require immediate or urgent attention. At all times, people who come to a hospital emergency department are treated according to their level of urgency.

"Last weekend, over January 2 and 3, Bathurst Health Service saw 235 non-urgent and semi-urgent patients. These patients may have experienced longer waiting times while more urgent cases were prioritised.

"Patients in these categories can often have their concerns addressed in a general practice setting or with advice from the local 24 hour telephone service."

She said according to the Bureau of Health Information, in the January - March quarter of 2020, 86.5 per cent of all patients coming to the Bathurst Hospital emergency department commenced treatment within the expected timeframe, compared to 75.2 per cent for its peer group of hospitals of a similar size and type.

"According to the Bureau of Health Information, in the July to September quarter of 2020, the number of patients starting their treatment on time was 88.3 per cent. The median time to treatment for an emergency was six minutes, three minutes faster than the average for other NSW hospitals similar to Bathurst."

Ms Connors also said the Panorama Clinic is an important service for the Bathurst community and has resumed its normal operation. The provision of mental health services in the home, which was undertaken as part of the Bathurst Health Service's response to COVID-19 has been evaluated positively, and further work is being done to determine how these services can be used safely and appropriately in the future.