Latest / 360 with Katie Woolf / Dr. Robert Parker talks vaccination numbers and Darwin Hospital bed availability on 360 with Katie Woolf

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Dr. Robert Parker talks vaccination numbers and Darwin Hospital bed availability on 360 with Katie Woolf · 360 with Katie Woolf

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Now joining me on the line right now is doctor
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: Robert Parker, the head of the Australian Medical Association's NT branch.
• 0:07
  Speaker 2: Good morning to you, doctor Parker.
• 0:09
  Speaker 3: Morning Cody.
• 0:10
  Speaker 2: Now, we know that there is a.
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: Little bit more clarity at the moment when it comes
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: to the vaccination rates in our remote communities, but I
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: note that in the NT News today it is being
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: reported that some of our suburbs, well we don't really
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: know how they're going here in the top end due
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: to the fact that some of that data is not accessible.
• 0:31
  Speaker 2: What's your take on this, doctor Parker.
• 0:34
  Speaker 3: Well, again, I think my comments stand in the end
• 0:36
  Speaker 3: from the NT News. Ideally, I mean, given that everyone
• 0:40
  Speaker 3: has to record Medicare numbers and I know things they've
• 0:42
  Speaker 3: got recrests links to those Medicare numbers, it should be
• 0:45
  Speaker 3: able to someone should be able to sit down with
• 0:47
  Speaker 3: a data file and be able to get it. And ideally, yes,
• 0:51
  Speaker 3: it'd be good to know where the pocket there are pockets.
• 0:53
  Speaker 3: I mean, given that the end is going to reason
• 0:55
  Speaker 3: is more population, small difference of the probably not going
• 1:00
  Speaker 3: to make an awful lot of difference, but it'd be
• 1:01
  Speaker 3: good to know, for example, where the Palmerston's on a
• 1:03
  Speaker 3: rough concordance with Darwin to the vaccination rates.
• 1:07
  Speaker 1: Why is it so important do you reckon that? We know,
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: you know with some of our suburbs what the breakdown is.
• 1:13
  Speaker 3: Well, I suppose trying to work out what the factors
• 1:16
  Speaker 3: are that there stopping people getting vaccinated and there might
• 1:18
  Speaker 3: be local issues that affect that. So yeah, I mean
• 1:21
  Speaker 3: everything helps and trying to get our vaccination rates up
• 1:24
  Speaker 3: to twenty percent now.
• 1:25
  Speaker 1: The Chief Minister's Office has issued a statement this morning
• 1:28
  Speaker 1: saying that he has flagged that even when we reach
• 1:31
  Speaker 1: that eighty percent vaccination rate and above vaccination target, there
• 1:35
  Speaker 1: will still be extra measures in place to protect the vulnerable,
• 1:39
  Speaker 1: including remote communities for example, making the vaccination compulsory for
• 1:44
  Speaker 1: remote workers, and also land councils are interested in making
• 1:48
  Speaker 1: sure everybody coming.
• 1:49
  Speaker 2: Into their areas is double vax.
• 1:51
  Speaker 1: The government says that they support that, but they also
• 1:54
  Speaker 1: say that if when we're ready to take the next
• 1:57
  Speaker 1: steps as part of the national Plan, there are a
• 1:59
  Speaker 1: handful of communities where the vaccination rate remains low despite
• 2:03
  Speaker 1: the efforts of governments and others, that won't stop the
• 2:06
  Speaker 1: territories progress, and that they will look at the possibility
• 2:12
  Speaker 1: or consider additional public health measures to help restrict the
• 2:16
  Speaker 1: spread of COVID. So that could mean locking down some
• 2:20
  Speaker 1: of those communities.
• 2:22
  Speaker 2: Do you think that that's a good.
• 2:23
  Speaker 3: Move, Well, it's pretty much essential, I think. I mean,
• 2:27
  Speaker 3: they've got to again, we're a minded how dangerous as
• 2:31
  Speaker 3: buggy is that one guy in Sydney it wasn't vaccinated
• 2:34
  Speaker 3: or wearing a mask. That the two major cities now
• 2:37
  Speaker 3: being locked down for months, So it gets out and
• 2:40
  Speaker 3: about really quickly, and if it gets into an indigenous community,
• 2:46
  Speaker 3: it's likely to infect large numbers of people and kill
• 2:49
  Speaker 3: large numbers of people, which, apart from the awful tragedy
• 2:52
  Speaker 3: of those communities and the death rates, is going to
• 2:54
  Speaker 3: put an awful lot of pressure on an already very
• 2:56
  Speaker 3: very stressed health system.
• 2:58
  Speaker 1: Well that was what I was going to ask you
• 3:00
  Speaker 1: about as well, Dr Parker. Obviously, over the last couple
• 3:03
  Speaker 1: of weeks we have been talking a lot more about
• 3:05
  Speaker 1: some of the stress within our health system at the moment.
• 3:08
  Speaker 1: Kath Hatcher from the Australian Nursing and We're Free Union
• 3:12
  Speaker 1: joined us on the show just a couple of weeks
• 3:14
  Speaker 1: ago and said that we're at crisis point. How are
• 3:17
  Speaker 1: things tracking along at the moment from your perspective?
• 3:21
  Speaker 3: Okay, I've been on leave for the last week, very
• 3:24
  Speaker 3: much welcome leave. Look, but I suppose it gets back
• 3:27
  Speaker 3: to I'm not aware of the sort of day to
• 3:29
  Speaker 3: day issues, but it gets back very much to the
• 3:31
  Speaker 3: letter I wrote the Hunt a couple of years ago,
• 3:34
  Speaker 3: pointing out that territory hospitals were three times as busy
• 3:38
  Speaker 3: as as some other hospitals in Australia. So we're knowse
• 3:41
  Speaker 3: before COVID, so we've already got very high rates of
• 3:45
  Speaker 3: acuity on a very stressed helth system, underfunded in certain areas.
• 3:49
  Speaker 3: The Morgue mental health have been underfunded for years, you know,
• 3:52
  Speaker 3: while the parts have obviously been better funded, but the
• 3:57
  Speaker 3: you know, just indicates that it will. Before COVID, territory
• 4:00
  Speaker 3: health system was very stressed, and I mean the argument
• 4:04
  Speaker 3: is still there that nothing has changed. In fact, the
• 4:06
  Speaker 3: pressure has probably grown even more than when I wrote
• 4:09
  Speaker 3: that letter to Minister.
• 4:10
  Speaker 2: Hunt and Dr Parker.
• 4:12
  Speaker 1: We know that even at that press conference at the
• 4:15
  Speaker 1: Chief Minister held a bit over a week and a
• 4:16
  Speaker 1: half ago. It was when he was talking about the
• 4:19
  Speaker 1: roadmap forward. When we get to eighty percent vaccination rate.
• 4:22
  Speaker 1: He had said, you know, the reality is that our
• 4:25
  Speaker 1: health system could not handle a COVID outbreak.
• 4:29
  Speaker 2: Is that your sentiment?
• 4:32
  Speaker 3: Yes, well, basically with the hospital that we're current level
• 4:35
  Speaker 3: four and code yellows all the time if you do
• 4:38
  Speaker 3: get a massive outbreak in a community. We've seen what
• 4:41
  Speaker 3: happens in parts of Sydney where hospitals are basically overwhelmed
• 4:45
  Speaker 3: with COVID cases. And my understanding is in Melbourne at
• 4:47
  Speaker 3: the moment, half of Royal Melbourne Hospital is currently devoted
• 4:51
  Speaker 3: to dealing with COVID cases, So that's half one of
• 4:54
  Speaker 3: the major hospitals in Melbourne are dealing with COVID issues
• 4:58
  Speaker 3: in that city. So you can just imagine if we've
• 5:00
  Speaker 3: got it COVID outbreak in Darwin what that would mean
• 5:03
  Speaker 3: in terms of a hospital. It's already pretty much beyond
• 5:06
  Speaker 3: full capacity.
• 5:07
  Speaker 2: Dr Parker.
• 5:08
  Speaker 1: Do you feel as though, and again this is something
• 5:10
  Speaker 1: we spoke to Cath Hatcher about, do you feel as
• 5:12
  Speaker 1: though the taking on of the Howard Springs quarantine facility
• 5:16
  Speaker 1: by nt Health has also added pressure to the two
• 5:20
  Speaker 1: major hospitals.
• 5:23
  Speaker 3: Well, again, I would expect Kat put up the argument
• 5:25
  Speaker 3: that lots of staff. I've drifted over to the facility
• 5:28
  Speaker 3: you were in Hell And that's my understanding as well,
• 5:30
  Speaker 3: that the House Springs facility where it's probably much better
• 5:35
  Speaker 3: roster system and whatever, that people aren't working night shifts
• 5:38
  Speaker 3: and they've probably got much better rosters and people are
• 5:41
  Speaker 3: probably getting better paid, has trained a lot of the
• 5:42
  Speaker 3: stuff we would otherwise be working in territory hospitals away
• 5:46
  Speaker 3: from that. So that's just adding to the pressure.
• 5:47
  Speaker 1: Yeah, and I know that you did mention as well
• 5:50
  Speaker 1: the code yellows and did you say it was stage
• 5:52
  Speaker 1: four or what did you say?
• 5:53
  Speaker 2: Sorry, I couldn't remember it.
• 5:54
  Speaker 3: For stage four is the level before code yellow. So
• 5:59
  Speaker 3: stage four is delivered, do you get to be four
• 6:00
  Speaker 3: code yellow?
• 6:01
  Speaker 2: And are we are we at that very often? Doctor Partner,
• 6:08
  Speaker 2: reasonably often?
• 6:09
  Speaker 3: Yeah, it's just a constant pressure. And again it gets
• 6:11
  Speaker 3: back to the problem is again that the arguments I
• 6:14
  Speaker 3: pointed out to Minister Hunt, a lot of this lies
• 6:17
  Speaker 3: in primary care. We haven't got the primary care resources
• 6:20
  Speaker 3: that other states do. We have double on that letter,
• 6:23
  Speaker 3: I pointed out, we have double the number of avoidable admissions.
• 6:26
  Speaker 3: So that's that's admissions that would normally keep people away
• 6:29
  Speaker 3: from hospital. We've got double the number compared to other
• 6:32
  Speaker 3: states because of again the the issues with primary care
• 6:36
  Speaker 3: and the lack of resources in primary care, and it
• 6:40
  Speaker 3: just puts immense pressure on the two hospitals, the two
• 6:43
  Speaker 3: major hospitals in the territory. Where are the only places
• 6:46
  Speaker 3: with lights on? You know when everything else is shut
• 6:48
  Speaker 3: gerald are on an Old Springs hospital.
• 6:51
  Speaker 2: Does it come down to funding, do you think? Or
• 6:53
  Speaker 2: is it or what is that?
• 6:56
  Speaker 3: Well? Equitable funding? Again, I know I've had this ugging
• 6:58
  Speaker 3: with reson it is I mean, as I pointed out
• 7:02
  Speaker 3: that in that submission to the Productivity Commission, because we
• 7:06
  Speaker 3: don't have the primary care and access to Medicare that
• 7:09
  Speaker 3: other states have to treat, one medical condition a remote
• 7:14
  Speaker 3: in a remote community, a diabetic foodoles costs the territory
• 7:18
  Speaker 3: taxpayer one hundred and thirty three thousand dollars per year.
• 7:22
  Speaker 3: That's for one patient, one medical condition, and a use
• 7:25
  Speaker 3: whales a similar patient with a similar condition cost their
• 7:28
  Speaker 3: taxpayer zero because their population can get access to Medicare
• 7:33
  Speaker 3: funded resources through primary care. And so that's a real
• 7:37
  Speaker 3: drain on the territory budget. You know, if you han't
• 7:39
  Speaker 3: spent that amount of money on health compared to other states.
• 7:43
  Speaker 3: It really puts a lot of pressure in terms of
• 7:44
  Speaker 3: an equitable health budget. And I know a little practics
• 7:49
  Speaker 3: on coming up about the GSD and we get funded
• 7:51
  Speaker 3: for that, but I just don't think it really covers
• 7:53
  Speaker 3: that significant expense the Territorians have got to pay to
• 7:58
  Speaker 3: get equitable health compared to peace in the Southern States.
• 8:01
  Speaker 1: Well, doctor Robert Parker, I know that it sort of
• 8:03
  Speaker 1: doesn't seem as though it's an issue that's going to
• 8:05
  Speaker 1: go away in a hurry. In fact, you know, our
• 8:07
  Speaker 1: health system is always understrained, but it does seem like
• 8:11
  Speaker 1: at the moment it's under additional pressure. And should we
• 8:14
  Speaker 1: end up with COVID in the community even more so, Well, again.
• 8:18
  Speaker 3: Kate, I'd like to play tribute to all the heroes
• 8:20
  Speaker 3: who work in the health system. That's doctors, nurses, ots, physios,
• 8:24
  Speaker 3: social workers, psychologists, cleaners, hospital staff, yep, the kitchen staff,
• 8:29
  Speaker 3: everyone who's making you know, who are really making the
• 8:31
  Speaker 3: whole system work. And you know, again they're doing a
• 8:35
  Speaker 3: great job on tremendous precius. They've good on all of them.
• 8:37
  Speaker 1: Yeah, absolutely, i'd certainly echo that sentiment, Doctor Robert Parker.
• 8:42
  Speaker 2: Always good to catch up with you. Thanks so much
• 8:44
  Speaker 2: for your time this morning.
• 8:45
  Speaker 3: Okay, thanks Gate,