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Katie Woolf spoke with Sky News Reporter Matt Cunningham on hospitals in NT · 360 with Katie Woolf

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  Speaker 1: And we are going to head straight across now to
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  Speaker 1: Matt Cunningham from Sky News, who has broken this story
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  Speaker 1: which we've just been discussing about doctors and senior health
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  Speaker 1: executives discussing shutting the emergency department at one of Greater
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  Speaker 1: Darwin's two hospitals during crisis talks over staff shortages. Good
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  Speaker 1: morning to you, Matt, Good morning Katie mate. I mean
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  Speaker 1: this does sound to me as though we're in a
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  Speaker 1: pretty difficult situation in the territory. If we've got three
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  Speaker 1: code yellows this year already at Royal Darwin Hospital, and
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  Speaker 1: our discussions about we'll closing the emergency department at the
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  Speaker 1: Palmerston Hospital.
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  Speaker 2: Well absolutely, I think you know we are at crisis point, Katie.
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  Speaker 2: And I'm told that the hospital, the top ing hospital
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  Speaker 2: system is at about twenty percent below full quota a
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  Speaker 2: full time employee, so the amount of stress on the
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  Speaker 2: staff in working in those hospitals is just enormous, Katie,
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  Speaker 2: and I think that's what you're seeing play out here now.
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  Speaker 2: I've confirmed through individual sources that there was a meeting
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  Speaker 2: held about two weeks ago that involved emergency department doctors
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  Speaker 2: and senior health executives and there are a few options
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  Speaker 2: that were presented at that meeting to try to deal
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  Speaker 2: with this staff shortage. Now one of those and perhaps
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  Speaker 2: this is the most draftic, was the closure of the
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  Speaker 2: Parmerston Hospital emergency department. We know that since that facility
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  Speaker 2: opened in Augs twenty eighteen, it's meant that the staff's
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  Speaker 2: had to be spread across those two hospitals rather than
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  Speaker 2: all being in the one place. So that's one proposal
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  Speaker 2: that was put forward. Another proposal put forward Katie was
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  Speaker 2: reducing the services of the Parmerstan Hospital d significantly so
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  Speaker 2: that there'd just be a handful of beds there for
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  Speaker 2: walking patients and that ambulances would be directed to go
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  Speaker 2: straight to Royal dal And Hospital. Of course, you know
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  Speaker 2: we've reported a few weeks ago that situation where ambulances
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  Speaker 2: were transferring patients between the two hospitals. I think it's
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  Speaker 2: become pretty clear that the existence of the Parmeerston Hospital
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  Speaker 2: and in particular having a full service emergency department facility,
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  Speaker 2: has meant that there has been in some ways of
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  Speaker 2: doubling up of services and that it's had a huge
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  Speaker 2: impact on the staff. Now, doctors have been concerned about
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  Speaker 2: this for a long time, as in Okady, but I
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  Speaker 2: think we're starting to see that come to the fall now.
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  Speaker 2: There was that meeting a couple of weeks ago. Now
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  Speaker 2: my understanding is that there was an agreement to sort
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  Speaker 2: of see if things could be sorted out staffing, Liz
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  Speaker 2: by the end of this month, and then make a
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  Speaker 2: further decision about a way forward. Now at the moment,
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  Speaker 2: they're trying to do everything they can to get as
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  Speaker 2: many staff working in our hospital system as they can.
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  Speaker 2: All of the hospital staff who had been secondered, for example,
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  Speaker 2: to the National Critical Care and Trauma Center, have been
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  Speaker 2: told to go back into the hospital system. Also had
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  Speaker 2: a situation, Katie, with the Northern Territory government taking over
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  Speaker 2: the how It's Drinks quarantine facility because that required them
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  Speaker 2: to recruit four hundred staff. A lot of those staff
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  Speaker 2: came from the hospital system as well. So there are
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  Speaker 2: a number of factors that are putting an enormous amount
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  Speaker 2: of straining on the staffing in our top end hospital system,
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  Speaker 2: and now that's leaning to some of these drastic measures
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  Speaker 2: being discussed at the highest level. Matt.
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  Speaker 1: It's an incredibly difficult situation that we're in We all
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  Speaker 1: know that our doctors and nurses and all of those
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  Speaker 1: support stuff at both of those hospitals do a tremendous job.
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  Speaker 1: But if they don't actually have the staffing levels that
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  Speaker 1: they require, it makes it incredibly bloody difficult for them
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  Speaker 1: to do their jobs.
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  Speaker 2: Well, it certainly does. And I'm told that it's nursing
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  Speaker 2: staff in particular, that there's a shorty job. Now consider
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  Speaker 2: it is, Katie, if you're a nurse in your work,
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  Speaker 2: say in Victoria, you generally work to afford to one
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  Speaker 2: nurse to patient ratio. Now Here in the Northern Territory,
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  Speaker 2: even in the best of time, they're often working at
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  Speaker 2: a seven or eight to one nurse to patient ratio.
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  Speaker 2: That's only getting worse as our hospitals are getting visier
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  Speaker 2: and as staff as stretched across those two facilities. So
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  Speaker 2: you know, I've been told by people that the system
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  Speaker 2: is just about a breaking point and that there really
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  Speaker 2: does need to be a circuit breaker to try and
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  Speaker 2: fix what's going on. Of course, all this is happening,
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  Speaker 2: Katie without any of your community transmission of coronavirus in
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  Speaker 2: the Northern Territory, So you have to wonder what kind
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  Speaker 2: of situation we're being in if we get a COVID
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  Speaker 2: outbreak here and suddenly even more stress was put on
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  Speaker 2: our hospital than if the hospital then needed deferlough staff
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  Speaker 2: and et cetera, et cetera. I mean, there is the
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  Speaker 2: potential for this to become a full blown crisis we
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  Speaker 2: don't do something to address it pretty quickly.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, it would be incredibly frightening. Matt Our phone lines
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  Speaker 1: are going absolutely ballistic this morning, so I can only
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  Speaker 1: assume that it's people calling through on this very topic.
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  Speaker 1: Someone's just called through to say he's been at URDH
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  Speaker 1: and he's never seen it so busy before. I myself
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  Speaker 1: have spoken to people who work in that emergency department.
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  Speaker 1: I know you've spoken to plenty of them, and this
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  Speaker 1: is exactly why this story has ended up. You know,
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  Speaker 1: out in the media, it sounds as though it's almost
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  Speaker 1: a bit of a cry for help.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, I think there are a lot of frustrated people
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  Speaker 2: working in the hospital system.
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  Speaker 1: Now.
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  Speaker 2: You know, you've got to have some sympathy for the governm.
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  Speaker 2: They're working under incredibly difficult circumstances here. They've also got
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  Speaker 2: the added problem given there's COVID that it's really difficult
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  Speaker 2: now to get a lot of those people who would
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  Speaker 2: come here either run a three or six month contract
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  Speaker 2: or come from overseas to work here, to actually get
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  Speaker 2: here to work in that system. So maybe that's something
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  Speaker 2: that needs to be worked around as well. I've had
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  Speaker 2: another suggestion this morning that we need to start perhaps
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  Speaker 2: leaning on some of those older retired nurses or nurses
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  Speaker 2: who aren't necessarily university qualified. You know, your old school
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  Speaker 2: nurse who might be out in the community but might
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  Speaker 2: still have the skills and still might be available to
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  Speaker 2: work there. So I'm sure there's plenty of options that
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  Speaker 2: are out there, but it might take a little bit
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  Speaker 2: of creative thinking to work out how we're going to
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  Speaker 2: get through this problem.
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  Speaker 1: Well, Matt Cunningham, I know that you are incredibly busy
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  Speaker 1: this morning. Thank you so much for talking us through
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  Speaker 1: this story. No worry, thank you. That's Matt Cunningham there
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  Speaker 1: from Sky News.