Latest / 360 with Katie Woolf / Opposition Leader Bill Yan weighs in on the NT's health crisis and Code Yellow situation triggered at Darwin region hospitals

Transcript

Opposition Leader Bill Yan weighs in on the NT's health crisis and Code Yellow situation triggered at Darwin region hospitals · 360 with Katie Woolf

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Joining me on the line right now is the Member
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: for Namajira and the Colpiece Opposition spokesperson for Health. Good
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: morning to.
• 0:08
  Speaker 2: You, Bill Yan, Good morning Katie.
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: How are you very well?
• 0:13
  Speaker 3: Bill?
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: Obviously, this situation within the territory hospitals at the moment
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: is a really serious one. We heard from doctor Robert
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: Parker yesterday. We spoke to him again this morning and
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: I asked, are we at crisis point? And he said, well,
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: when a Code yellow is declared, that is what it is.
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: You're in a situation of crisis.
• 0:34
  Speaker 2: That's right, Caddie. And I listened to Dr Parker yesterday
• 0:38
  Speaker 2: and of course Katatcher from Australian Nurse and Migraphy Federation,
• 0:41
  Speaker 2: and they've been calling for a Code Brown during the
• 0:46
  Speaker 2: weekend for government to realize the pressure that our health
• 0:50
  Speaker 2: system in a top end is under and the government
• 0:54
  Speaker 2: have not listened to the people who are on the around.
• 0:57
  Speaker 2: I've not listened to those people that are at the
• 0:58
  Speaker 2: cold face. And we see the code you low called yesterday,
• 1:04
  Speaker 2: which is probably days too late, and it shows that
• 1:09
  Speaker 2: we have a minister that's certainly out of touch with
• 1:13
  Speaker 2: the people on the ground from what they're saying and
• 1:17
  Speaker 2: what's quite interesting case we've seen yesterday that the Minister
• 1:20
  Speaker 2: was unaware of the letter sent out declaring the yellow
• 1:25
  Speaker 2: So again it shows that lack of communication and that
• 1:29
  Speaker 2: lack of understanding between Health and management and of course
• 1:32
  Speaker 2: their minister. It's just unbelievable. I just I don't get it.
• 1:37
  Speaker 1: Bill. Some were asking if the CLP had lost touch yesterday,
• 1:41
  Speaker 1: if they tuned into Parliament and saw, you know, a
• 1:44
  Speaker 1: question time focusing on this situation with a young Labor
• 1:47
  Speaker 1: member allegedly snorting something rather than focusing on the crisis
• 1:52
  Speaker 1: that is our health system.
• 1:55
  Speaker 2: Well, Lea came out during the lunch break yesterday and
• 1:58
  Speaker 2: held a press conference and health was the primary focus
• 2:02
  Speaker 2: of that health conference, and sadly that wasn't reported upon.
• 2:07
  Speaker 2: Yesterday afternoon also had emotion before Parliament about hospitals, specifically
• 2:12
  Speaker 2: Otle Springs, but talking about health right across the territory,
• 2:16
  Speaker 2: and Labor changed that motion and didn't want to talk
• 2:19
  Speaker 2: about the real issues facing hospitals in the territory. And
• 2:23
  Speaker 2: the Minister was actually quite glib in the way that
• 2:27
  Speaker 2: she spoke about how our Springs just wanted something shiny
• 2:32
  Speaker 2: and new and used the opportunity when we were talking
• 2:36
  Speaker 2: about serious matters of health to make political jobs against
• 2:40
  Speaker 2: the opposition. I found that really really disappointing, Katie. We
• 2:44
  Speaker 2: were there yesterday to talk about serious matters relating to health.
• 2:48
  Speaker 2: We were talking specifically about our springs, but our health
• 2:51
  Speaker 2: system overall, and the government just did not want to
• 2:54
  Speaker 2: talk about it. They just wanted to get there and
• 2:56
  Speaker 2: pat themselves on the back and say how great things
• 2:58
  Speaker 2: are going and how well they doing. And yesterday's Code
• 3:01
  Speaker 2: yellow in the midst of that fate shows how barely
• 3:06
  Speaker 2: out of touch this Gunner government is with the health
• 3:09
  Speaker 2: system here in the territory.
• 3:10
  Speaker 1: Well, look, you know, I agree that the focus needs
• 3:13
  Speaker 1: to be on health right now. There is no doubt
• 3:15
  Speaker 1: about that. When you've got both the AMA and the
• 3:17
  Speaker 1: Nurses Federation yesterday essentially on the show saying that we
• 3:22
  Speaker 1: need federal assistance here and the possibility of calling in
• 3:25
  Speaker 1: the ADF to support staff at the hospital, or calling
• 3:29
  Speaker 1: in the National Critical Care and Trauma Response Center. And look,
• 3:32
  Speaker 1: that was why I thought it was a side step,
• 3:34
  Speaker 1: or a real misstep, I should say, from the CLP
• 3:36
  Speaker 1: focusing on the alleged cocaine use bart I don't want
• 3:41
  Speaker 1: to get stuck in that political fight right now. What
• 3:43
  Speaker 1: I do want to know is what the CLP thinks
• 3:47
  Speaker 1: needs to happen here. Do we need to be bringing in,
• 3:50
  Speaker 1: you know, the feeds. Do we need to be calling
• 3:51
  Speaker 1: in the ADF to try and help out our health system.
• 3:55
  Speaker 2: Anything that this Gunner government can do to make sure
• 3:59
  Speaker 2: that health services are being provided to territories they need
• 4:03
  Speaker 2: to do. They need to put their prior aside. They
• 4:05
  Speaker 2: need to step aside from that. We said it just recently.
• 4:08
  Speaker 3: When communities were calling for assistants from the federal government
• 4:12
  Speaker 3: during the food shortage and the transport crisis we've just seen,
• 4:16
  Speaker 3: this government decided, no, we didn't need any federal assistants
• 4:20
  Speaker 3: and called those communities mischievous for.
• 4:23
  Speaker 2: Calling for help. And here we are now in a
• 4:26
  Speaker 2: health crisis where we have the AMA and the Nursing
• 4:30
  Speaker 2: and Mibity Federation calling for federal assistants. The government government
• 4:34
  Speaker 2: needs to put its pride a side. It needs to
• 4:36
  Speaker 2: listen to those people on the ground, listen to those
• 4:38
  Speaker 2: representing bodies and if we need assistance from the commonwealth,
• 4:43
  Speaker 2: stand up, put your pride aside and ask for that.
• 4:46
  Speaker 2: Decistians to make sure that every territory in gets the
• 4:50
  Speaker 2: health services that they need, and that every territory is
• 4:55
  Speaker 2: kept as safe as can be possibly done during this
• 5:00
  Speaker 2: current health crisis, because it's not going to go away.
• 5:03
  Speaker 2: Yesterday was our darkest day in COVID, said that we've
• 5:06
  Speaker 2: seen poor this and high numbers of infections. The government
• 5:11
  Speaker 2: hasn't come out and spoken to anyone. We haven't seen
• 5:14
  Speaker 2: the chow in thirteen days. They haven't held a press
• 5:17
  Speaker 2: conference in ten days. It's like they've gone to ground.
• 5:21
  Speaker 2: It's like they're hiding for territories and they don't want
• 5:24
  Speaker 2: to let people what's go let people know what's going on,
• 5:27
  Speaker 2: because I think they're probably afraid of the backlash they're
• 5:30
  Speaker 2: going to see from the general public.
• 5:31
  Speaker 1: Bill. Are you concerned about how we're going to sort
• 5:35
  Speaker 1: of bounce back? And I asked a similar question of
• 5:38
  Speaker 1: doctor Robert Parker a little bit earlier this morning, who's
• 5:40
  Speaker 1: obviously on the ground in the hospital, But are you
• 5:43
  Speaker 1: concerned about how we're going to bounce back, get elected surgeries,
• 5:46
  Speaker 1: get those specialist outpatient services back underway post COVID.
• 5:52
  Speaker 2: I certainly am, but we were struggling during the early
• 5:56
  Speaker 2: parts of COVID to maintain those elective surgery schedules. Now
• 6:01
  Speaker 2: we've had we're now five Code yellows in twelve months,
• 6:05
  Speaker 2: and every time we see a Code yellow, we see
• 6:07
  Speaker 2: those elected surgeries backed up. So we've been backing those
• 6:11
  Speaker 2: surgeries up now for for twelve months. We're going to
• 6:14
  Speaker 2: need some significant assistance to make sure that we can
• 6:18
  Speaker 2: get on top of those elected surgeries and get those
• 6:23
  Speaker 2: people help that they desperately need. I've only heard this morning,
• 6:26
  Speaker 2: Katie a person, a man whose wife is looking to
• 6:31
  Speaker 2: go into childbirth and he's been denied access to the
• 6:34
  Speaker 2: hospital to be there for the birth of their child.
• 6:37
  Speaker 2: So that shows how dire the system is in the
• 6:43
  Speaker 2: issues that we face, but also goes to show some
• 6:47
  Speaker 2: of the lack of common sense directions being put in
• 6:51
  Speaker 2: place by bureaucrats as far as access to our hospitals go.
• 6:56
  Speaker 1: Makes it hard.
• 6:58
  Speaker 2: We're going to we're going to need some help to
• 6:59
  Speaker 2: get ourselves out of this whole KD and this government
• 7:02
  Speaker 2: is going to have to pull out all the stops
• 7:04
  Speaker 2: to make sure that they provide our health services with
• 7:08
  Speaker 2: your systems they need to be able to get through
• 7:10
  Speaker 2: this current crisis.
• 7:12
  Speaker 1: Well, Bill Yan, the opposition spokesperson for health. Will see
• 7:16
  Speaker 1: you tomorrow for the week that was.
• 7:19
  Speaker 2: Yes, looking forward to Katie. Get my steps up before
• 7:21
  Speaker 2: I get in.
• 7:21
  Speaker 1: Yeah, you better. We're winning at the moment. The hot
• 7:23
  Speaker 1: steppers are good. On your bill yep. We will talk
• 7:28
  Speaker 1: to you tomorrow morning. Thank you very much for your.
• 7:30
  Speaker 2: Time, look forward to Katie. Cheers.
• 7:33
  Speaker 1: Thank you, thank you.