Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
We've spoken quite a bit in recent weeks about Code yellow.
It's not being called at Royal Darwin Hospital now. Unfortunately,
it seems Royal Darwin Hospital's emergency department continues to be
under a great deal of pressure, I'm told for at
least the last eight days now, I'm told that staff
have been pushing for a Code yellow to be called.
(00:20):
That finally happened yesterday afternoon. Now joining us on the
line is the Australian Nursing and mid Wiffery Federation's NTI
secretary Kath Hatcha.
Speaker 2 (00:29):
Good morning, Kath, Good morning Katie, Kath.
Speaker 1 (00:33):
What's the situation at the moment. From what members are
telling you.
Speaker 2 (00:39):
The situation is quite die for them. They are many
of the ED nurses that have come to us wouldn't
normally come to us. They try and navigate and you know,
get this situation under control by the normal channels through
(01:00):
the department, and for them to come to us, it
is kind of at their last result. What's so to speak.
They've got double bunking of at least eighteen cubicles, which
means there's not eighteen patients in there, there's you know,
thirty six or more it is better to double bunk
(01:23):
than leaving people untreated in the waiting room or having
ambulances ramped up in the waiting bays. But you know,
unfortunately the double bunking and the starting to ramp is
becoming a near permanent requirement now, which they hate to say,
(01:45):
but it's almost the norm. It's expected to double bunk,
and they haven't got the staff numbers to cope with that,
with nurses or doctors. And they wanted the Code yellow
to be called at least a week ago. And yes
it's finally been called, but they've really been under extreme
(02:11):
pressure this last eight to nine days, so Cass.
Speaker 1 (02:15):
I mean, we've been talking about these code yellows not
being called for quite some time. I know that we've
spoken to you about it previously. We've spoken as well
to you know, to doctor John Zorba's good that they've
finally called it yesterday, but it is is it a
bit too late?
Speaker 2 (02:35):
I don't think it's too late. Well yes I think
it is too late, but it's fine. You know, they've
finally done it, so that is great. But when they
were asking for it last week, that's when it should
have been enacted. They have tried to buy beds across
at the Darwin Private. They have transported some patients across there,
(03:00):
but they can't accept anymore because they haven't got the
staff to open up any more beds. So the tower
block is full, but it's full of people who need
to be there, and the people are in ed at
Royal Darwin or Palmerston Hospitals they need to be there too.
They're older people, they're sicker. The presentations haven't increased significantly,
(03:25):
they've been quite steady and quite been the same. But
they're people that are needing admissions because they really are unwell.
Speaker 1 (03:34):
Kas in terms of you know the measures that then
get implemented to deal with the overcrowding that we're experiencing.
I mean eighteen cubicles thirty six patients at double bunking.
You know what other measures are implemented now as part
of that Code yellow to try to ease pressure in
some way. And why is it something that our nurses
(03:55):
had been calling for.
Speaker 2 (03:59):
I guess the elective surgery is one thing they don't
like to push back and stop because that affects the community.
It affects them in the long run that the waiting
times for people having hip or knee replacements, etc. Are
going to now be pushed back. And I feel sorry
(04:19):
for the community if they've had their elective surgery stopped
for now, that is a real concern because they're in pain, etc.
But we need to care for those that are already
in the hospital. We need to manage those and not
bring anymore in to have surgery if unnecessary. Not unnecessarily,
(04:43):
but putting extra pressure where there is no bed, Yeah,
Cat's available.
Speaker 1 (04:49):
What needs to happen here, I mean we've long spoken
about the fact that we have got a number of
aging Territorians that really need to be in a more
appropriate facility. That's something that was promised before the the
last federal election and they tell me is being worked upon.
But what needs to happen here to ease some of
these pressure.
Speaker 2 (05:11):
Well, definitely having the age care patients going to appropriate facilities.
I believe they're in them about sixty five roughly that
could go to an age care facility, so that would
be a huge pressure. This also the new ward that
they're building next to the hospital that's approximately thirty two beds.
(05:35):
You know, if you add them together, you've got nearly
one hundred beds extra. Trying to keep patients in their
own areas like Gov. Catherine Tenet, Greek etc. Is always helpful,
but that's not always possible. They need to have that
(05:58):
extra higher level care or surgery and therefore they do
need to come to Royal Darwin. There's also the hostel
at the hospital itself is they don't need an acute bed.
They can be transferred out on the campus area of
Royal Darwen Hospital and have daily care. But also some
(06:21):
more funding from the government Federal government in particular to
get these extra nurses that are required in their emergency
departments and to open this new ward that is currently
being built.
Speaker 1 (06:37):
CAAs how many extra nurses do we realistically need in
the emergency ward at Royal Darwin Hospital.
Speaker 2 (06:48):
The matrix framework that was recently calculated in the emergency
department at Royal Darwin is approximately thirty two extra nurses
so they're fully staffed each shift. If they're not fully
staffed due to sickly for lack of staff, then unfortunately
(07:10):
a lot of nurses are doing double shifts and extra
shifts on their days off, which is also at risks
for them with their help. So we need to fully
cater the staff to accommodate continuously double bunking. If that
(07:31):
is hopefully it's not going to be the norm, whether
they need to extend the emergency department and putting extra
beds in so people aren't double bunked together. So that's
a real occupational health and safety issue as well having
two people in the same cubicle. But it's better than
(07:52):
like I said before, better than having people potentially not
having a good eye on in the waiting room and
at least they're getting observed from the cubicles.
Speaker 1 (08:04):
Well. Kath Hatcher, the Australian Nursing a midw Free Federation's
NT secretary, always appreciate your time. Thank you very much
for having a chat with us this morning and making
us aware of this situation.
Speaker 2 (08:19):
Yeah, thank you. And it doesn't mean that the patients,
sorry the community doesn't need to go to Rayal, Darwin
or Palmerston hospitals, but if they can avoid that would
be a big help. And if they can't go to
the GP but it needs to be escalated to a hospital,
then absolutely get the treatment that they need and they
(08:40):
will get that treatment, but they're delay in getting treated,
maybe delayed because of the extra pressures they're trying to
cope with at the moment.
Speaker 1 (08:50):
Absolutely, yeah, thank you. And look if you can go
to the urgent care clinic if it is something that
is not life threatening, then certainly do that as well.
Kath Hatcher al ways appreciate your time. Thank you, Thanks Katie,
thanks so much.
We've spoken quite a bit in recent weeks about Code yellow.
It's not being called at Royal Darwin Hospital now. Unfortunately,
it seems Royal Darwin Hospital's emergency department continues to be
under a great deal of pressure, I'm told for at
least the last eight days now, I'm told that staff
have been pushing for a Code yellow to be called.
(00:20):
That finally happened yesterday afternoon. Now joining us on the
line is the Australian Nursing and mid Wiffery Federation's NTI
secretary Kath Hatcha.
Speaker 2 (00:29):
Good morning, Kath, Good morning Katie, Kath.
Speaker 1 (00:33):
What's the situation at the moment. From what members are
telling you.
Speaker 2 (00:39):
The situation is quite die for them. They are many
of the ED nurses that have come to us wouldn't
normally come to us. They try and navigate and you know,
get this situation under control by the normal channels through
(01:00):
the department, and for them to come to us, it
is kind of at their last result. What's so to speak.
They've got double bunking of at least eighteen cubicles, which
means there's not eighteen patients in there, there's you know,
thirty six or more it is better to double bunk
(01:23):
than leaving people untreated in the waiting room or having
ambulances ramped up in the waiting bays. But you know,
unfortunately the double bunking and the starting to ramp is
becoming a near permanent requirement now, which they hate to say,
(01:45):
but it's almost the norm. It's expected to double bunk,
and they haven't got the staff numbers to cope with that,
with nurses or doctors. And they wanted the Code yellow
to be called at least a week ago. And yes
it's finally been called, but they've really been under extreme
(02:11):
pressure this last eight to nine days, so Cass.
Speaker 1 (02:15):
I mean, we've been talking about these code yellows not
being called for quite some time. I know that we've
spoken to you about it previously. We've spoken as well
to you know, to doctor John Zorba's good that they've
finally called it yesterday, but it is is it a
bit too late?
Speaker 2 (02:35):
I don't think it's too late. Well yes I think
it is too late, but it's fine. You know, they've
finally done it, so that is great. But when they
were asking for it last week, that's when it should
have been enacted. They have tried to buy beds across
at the Darwin Private. They have transported some patients across there,
(03:00):
but they can't accept anymore because they haven't got the
staff to open up any more beds. So the tower
block is full, but it's full of people who need
to be there, and the people are in ed at
Royal Darwin or Palmerston Hospitals they need to be there too.
They're older people, they're sicker. The presentations haven't increased significantly,
(03:25):
they've been quite steady and quite been the same. But
they're people that are needing admissions because they really are unwell.
Speaker 1 (03:34):
Kas in terms of you know the measures that then
get implemented to deal with the overcrowding that we're experiencing.
I mean eighteen cubicles thirty six patients at double bunking.
You know what other measures are implemented now as part
of that Code yellow to try to ease pressure in
some way. And why is it something that our nurses
(03:55):
had been calling for.
Speaker 2 (03:59):
I guess the elective surgery is one thing they don't
like to push back and stop because that affects the community.
It affects them in the long run that the waiting
times for people having hip or knee replacements, etc. Are
going to now be pushed back. And I feel sorry
(04:19):
for the community if they've had their elective surgery stopped
for now, that is a real concern because they're in pain, etc.
But we need to care for those that are already
in the hospital. We need to manage those and not
bring anymore in to have surgery if unnecessary. Not unnecessarily,
(04:43):
but putting extra pressure where there is no bed, Yeah,
Cat's available.
Speaker 1 (04:49):
What needs to happen here, I mean we've long spoken
about the fact that we have got a number of
aging Territorians that really need to be in a more
appropriate facility. That's something that was promised before the the
last federal election and they tell me is being worked upon.
But what needs to happen here to ease some of
these pressure.
Speaker 2 (05:11):
Well, definitely having the age care patients going to appropriate facilities.
I believe they're in them about sixty five roughly that
could go to an age care facility, so that would
be a huge pressure. This also the new ward that
they're building next to the hospital that's approximately thirty two beds.
(05:35):
You know, if you add them together, you've got nearly
one hundred beds extra. Trying to keep patients in their
own areas like Gov. Catherine Tenet, Greek etc. Is always helpful,
but that's not always possible. They need to have that
(05:58):
extra higher level care or surgery and therefore they do
need to come to Royal Darwin. There's also the hostel
at the hospital itself is they don't need an acute bed.
They can be transferred out on the campus area of
Royal Darwen Hospital and have daily care. But also some
(06:21):
more funding from the government Federal government in particular to
get these extra nurses that are required in their emergency
departments and to open this new ward that is currently
being built.
Speaker 1 (06:37):
CAAs how many extra nurses do we realistically need in
the emergency ward at Royal Darwin Hospital.
Speaker 2 (06:48):
The matrix framework that was recently calculated in the emergency
department at Royal Darwin is approximately thirty two extra nurses
so they're fully staffed each shift. If they're not fully
staffed due to sickly for lack of staff, then unfortunately
(07:10):
a lot of nurses are doing double shifts and extra
shifts on their days off, which is also at risks
for them with their help. So we need to fully
cater the staff to accommodate continuously double bunking. If that
(07:31):
is hopefully it's not going to be the norm, whether
they need to extend the emergency department and putting extra
beds in so people aren't double bunked together. So that's
a real occupational health and safety issue as well having
two people in the same cubicle. But it's better than
(07:52):
like I said before, better than having people potentially not
having a good eye on in the waiting room and
at least they're getting observed from the cubicles.
Speaker 1 (08:04):
Well. Kath Hatcher, the Australian Nursing a midw Free Federation's
NT secretary, always appreciate your time. Thank you very much
for having a chat with us this morning and making
us aware of this situation.
Speaker 2 (08:19):
Yeah, thank you. And it doesn't mean that the patients,
sorry the community doesn't need to go to Rayal, Darwin
or Palmerston hospitals, but if they can avoid that would
be a big help. And if they can't go to
the GP but it needs to be escalated to a hospital,
then absolutely get the treatment that they need and they
(08:40):
will get that treatment, but they're delay in getting treated,
maybe delayed because of the extra pressures they're trying to
cope with at the moment.
Speaker 1 (08:50):
Absolutely, yeah, thank you. And look if you can go
to the urgent care clinic if it is something that
is not life threatening, then certainly do that as well.
Kath Hatcher al ways appreciate your time. Thank you, Thanks Katie,
thanks so much.
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