New IT sparks hospital delays
THE rollout of new technology which records critical patient data is causing massive delays at the Gold Coast’s busiest emergency department, according to the State Opposition.
Patients say they are waiting up to seven hours at the Gold Coast University Hospital (GCUH) ED in some less critical cases, and estimate initial six-minute checks by nurses can blow out to 15 minutes.
The Bulletin this month reported important data had been lost under the new integrated electronic medical record (ieMR) system, and the Government had ignored warnings from doctors to delay the rollout of the program.
“It used to take just a few minutes to be triaged,” a patient source said. “Now it’s taking up to 15 minutes. They do a set of observations – your bloods, your temperature, and then they have to input that on to these screens on wheels.
“Once you’re in the ER, they’re saying there’s a 30-minute delay just to order bloods, take X-rays. They have to enter each person into the system. The nurses call them cows. They’ve got a ... load of staff put on as floor walkers. But no new nurses. They’re calling them the white walkers.”
The new technology is used at GCUH and will be introduced at Robina Hospital this week, sparking speculation from some staff that ramping could occur.
Bonney MP Sam O’Connor and Mudgeeraba MP Ros Bates, a registered nurse, said patients had complained about delays in the GCUH ED.
Rather than wait hours, patients with minor ailments were advised they could visit nearby medical centres at Parkwood and Southport, which bulk bill clients, but they declined to leave the busy ED.
The number of “acts of aggression” toward Coast health workers increased from 258 in 2015-16 to 509 in 2017-18.
The violence has been sparked by the overcrowding and the ice epidemic, causing Ms Bates to renew her call for a police beat at the Gold Coast University Hospital.
“I called for it months ago,” she said. “We are going to continue to get code yellows. This is another Labor health IT bungle that has already blown out by $256 million and doctors have raised significant concerns. We know nurses were brought down from Brisbane in the middle of the code yellow crisis to help nurses struggling to use the new system at GCUH.”
Dr Adam Brand, the Gold Coast Health clinical director for ieMR, said patient safety remained “our clinicians’ first and most important priority”.
“Staff now have patient information in real time, test results are more readily available, improved medication management and more visible vital signs monitoring,” he said.
“As with any new computer system, it takes time for staff to become proficient. We anticipated this and have numerous supports in place, including 200 extra staff who have been walking the floor and providing at-the-elbow support to our frontline staff.”
THIS IS ANOTHER LABOR HEALTH IT BUNGLE THAT HAS ALREADY BLOWN OUT BY $256 MILLION