Shortages put hospital on alert

For the second time this year, staff shortages have put West Gippsland Hospital into emergency management mode.

With local healthcare workers facing the dire consequences of COVID and winter influenza, West Gippsland Healthcare Group was forced to announce a code yellow across its organisation last week.

Some surgical and medical beds have been closed, patients transferred to other hospitals and Cooinda Aged Care has been put into lockdown as part of the organisation’s response.

Chief executive officer Dan Weeks said about 15 per cent of the organisation’s staff was currently on sick leave, placing extreme pressure across the entire organisation.

“We are finding it pretty tough that’s for sure. We are feeling it a lot more than when there was a state wide code brown in January.

“COVID is certainly still in our community. The cases state wide are certainly less but it’s impacting on us more than we’ve had in the past. And now we have seasonal flu impacting us.

“Because we have had to close beds, that immediately impacts the emergency department. It means we have to find beds elsewhere and then that backlogs to people in cubicles and the waiting room. We are doing everything we can to do the important things,” he said.

Mr Weeks expects the current code yellow status will continue for a couple of weeks. During that time staff will be shuffled across the organisation to meet peak service areas to maintain patient care.

About 60 staff are currently on sick leave from across the organisation. Mr Weeks said there was not one department operating at full capacity.

He said the hospital’s emergency department was experiencing high demand and long wait times.

He said the code yellow was largely driven by hospital staff and patients, as well as Cooinda residents experiencing high COVID levels.

As part of its management plan, Cooinda has been placed into lockdown with no visitors allowed unless it is extraordinary circumstances.

Mr Weeks said a number of surgical and medical beds had been closed and patients were being transferred to other services including Neerim South and St John of God at Berwick.

Mr Weeks said ensuring patients continued to receive the best possible care remained their priority but the most sick or injured would be cared for first.

“We are urging people to consider their need to come to emergency and to consider possibly seeing their GP if it is not urgent.

“If it’s an emergency definitely come in. Don’t be afraid to come here but we are saying you might have to wait a little longer,” he said.

Mr Weeks said the code yellow status would be reviewed regularly.

He said it was a status used in public health services to signal to communities that the emergency department and staff levels were under pressure.

Mr Weeks said they were redirecting staff into clinical roles where they could.

On Friday, the COVID testing clinic at the Goods Shed was closed to enable staff to be redirected into other service areas.

Mr Weeks said Bass Coast Health also was currently on code yellow.

Neerim Health chief executive officer Graham Bailey confirmed Neerim District Soldiers’ Memorial had closed its operating theatre for three weeks, effective yesterday, but said it was nothing to do with staff shortages.

Mr Bailey said the theatre was closed to enable old sterilising equipment to be decommissioned and new equipment to be installed.

He said the sterilisation equipment upgrade had been planned for some time and was initially scheduled for April but was delayed because of international shipping.

Mr Bailey said Neerim Health was operating all other sectors of the health service as normal and was in a position to assist WGHG.

Mr Bailey said there was an opportunity for patients presenting at WGH, who have private health insurance, to be transferred to Neerim South to ease the current demand on WGH services.

He said Neerim also had put in place arrangements to take some sub-acute patients from Warragul.

“We are taking medical overflow from West Gippsland Hospital into our sub-acute beds. Our relationship with Warragul is solid,” he said.