HOSPITAL BYPASS
FLU SHOCK: Ambos diverted amid ED patient logjam
AN 11-year-old epileptic boy who feared he was on the verge of a seizure was forced to lie on the floor at Geelong hospital because the emergency department was so overwhelmed.
A number of patients have been diverted to the city’s private hospitals in the past week in a bid to alleviate the growing logjam sparked by our flu epidemic.
AMBULANCES are being diverted from Geelong hospital to local private hospitals, St John of God and the Epworth, to ease pressure on Barwon Health’s swamped emergency department.
A Barwon Health spokesman yesterday said a surge in respiratory and flu-related illnesses was to blame for the rise in presentations at the public hospital.
“Geelong Emergency Department’s number of presentations with respiratory illnesses have reflected the figures showing a rise in Victorian influenza rates this year,” he said.
Epworth spokeswoman Colleen Coghlan said about 10 patients had been redirected d to the new Waurn Ponds hos- pital over the last seven days to help cater for the overflow at the busy Geelong hospital ED. D.
“It is a result of the crisis sis caused by people turning up at hospital with the flu,” Ms Coghlan said.
“Epworth and St John of f God are both taking patients from Barwon Health because of the demand caused by the flu epidemic.”
The diversions have been authorised by Ambulance Victoria.
As part of the arrangement, the State Government pays the hospital bill of any patient who is rerouted from a public to private hospital.
Ambulance Victoria acting director of emergency operations Anthony Carlyon said theth diversiondi i strategyt t isi a response to “one of our worst flu seasons yet”.
“The arrangement in place with selected private hospitals is benefiting patients by allowing them to be seen more quickly within the hospital system and for ambulances to be more available for medical emergencies in the community,” he said.
“To ensure our patients receive timely care, Ambulance Victoria takes an active role in distributing ambulances across theth hospitalh it l systemt to avoid multiple patients arriving by ambulance at any particular hospital at any given time.”
It comes several weeks after ambulances could been seen ramped outside the emergency department as calls continued to come in for a raft of illnesses including strokes, sporting injuries, seizures and chest pain.
Whittington mum Kelly Larkins said she experienced first-hand the over-run Barwon Health emergency department when she attended with her 11-year-old son, Lincoln, last Tuesday.
She said Lincoln — who has a history of febrial convulsions and epilepsy and was on the cusp of a seizure — was forced to lie on the emergency department floor because there were no beds available.
“He was suffering from asthma and felt a seizure coming on and yet he was stuck in that room, on the floor, for over an hour-and-a-half,” Ms Larkins said.
“He would have smashed his head open and seriously injured himself if he started convulsing.
“When I went to let the triage nurse know, I was told there was nothing they could do due to not having any beds. The fact they had no beds is extremely concerning and shows how overwhelmed they are.”
In the first seven months of 2017, 50 patients were admitted to Geelong hospital with flu-like symptoms. Several were put into the intensive care unit.