Tassie patients ‘at risk’
DOCTORS have released a report into overcrowded emergency departments, warning “unacceptable” waits for hospital beds will result in deaths unless action is taken.
The latest figures released by the Australasian College for Emergency Medicine reveal “deteriorating and unacceptable” waits in emergency hospitals throughout Australia, with patients in Tasmania, Canberra and South Australia most at risk.
College president Simon Judkins warned the situation was deteriorating.
“Governments need to implement solutions now to avoid increased risk of complications, errors, death and increased cost to the healthcare system,” Dr Judkins said.
He said anecdotal evidence from emergency doctors pointed to a worsening situation at the Royal Hobart Hospital, which is “significantly impacting the emergency department’s ability to deliver quality, timely care to patients when they most need it”.
The warning comes as state health data reveals that a mental health patient was forced to wait in the emergency department for six days at the Royal.
The data, for the 12 months to the end of March, shows the average wait by mental health patients at the Royal was just over four hours — and the longest average wait of nearly five hours was at the Launceston General Hospital.
Labor’s health spokeswom- an Sarah Lovell called on Health Minister Michael Ferguson to face up to the extent of the crisis in the state’s hospitals.
“He needs to stop what he’s doing and look at the frontline,” she said.
Acting Health Minister Elise Archer said the Government was committed to improving bed access for those in need of acute care.
She said the latest budget began a $95 million plan to improve the mental health system, including 25 new mental health beds and specialist inpatient child and adolescent mental health facilities for the first time.
“We have also invested significantly into communitybased support, with $11.4 million for individual packages of care and more funding for organisations such as Rural Alive and Well,” she said.
“We know there is currently demand pressure, but these initiatives will all help to reduce hospitalisation and improve patient flow at our hospitals.”
Dr Judkins said the problem facing emergency departments could be reduced through improvements in hospital management, increased resources and realistic targets.
“It is unsustainable to have hospitals operating at 100 per cent capacity every day, it leads to poor patient outcomes and staff burnout,” he said.
Dr Judkins said Tasmania should adopt the Victorian model, whereby the Health Minister is alerted every time a patient stays in the ED longer than 24 hours.