Latest / 360 with Katie Woolf / Nursing and Midwifery Federation NT Branch Secretary Cath Hatcher on the under staffed, over worked staff and full Covid wards that are driving the push for a "code brown" to be called in Territory hospitals

Transcript

Nursing and Midwifery Federation NT Branch Secretary Cath Hatcher on the under staffed, over worked staff and full Covid wards that are driving the push for a "code brown" to be called in Territory hospitals · 360 with Katie Woolf

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Well, as I mentioned a little bit earlier, it's not
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: just the AMA, the Australian Medical Association in the Northern
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: Territory calling for the Northern Territory government to declare a
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: Code Brown alert for public hospitals. We know that nurses
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: are also calling.
• 0:14
  Speaker 2: Out for relief.
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  Speaker 1: As we heard from Dr Parker a little bit earlier
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  Speaker 1: this morning. It is the highest level of emergency response.
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: If it is triggered, it means that hospitals can redeploy
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: workers to areas of greatest need. It means that they
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: can postpone leave to boost staffing numbers and also redistribute
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: resources to critical patients and importantly postpone those Category two
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: and three elective surgeries to relieve pressure on under the
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  Speaker 1: pump staff, which we know is already happening in the
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  Speaker 1: Northern Territory right now. Joining me on the line to
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  Speaker 1: talk more about the situation the Northern Territory Nursing and
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: Midwiffrey Union or Federation's Northern Territory Branch, Kath Hatcher, the Secretary,
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  Speaker 1: Good morning to you.
• 0:57
  Speaker 3: Oh, good morning Katie, Kath.
• 0:59
  Speaker 1: I really appreciate your time. How are things going for
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: you guys at the moment and for our wonderfully hard
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: working nurses.
• 1:09
  Speaker 3: Our hard working nurses are under the pumps even more
• 1:14
  Speaker 3: than what they've ever been in their entire career. They
• 1:18
  Speaker 3: need help, The doctors need help. A lot of the
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  Speaker 3: staff may be up to nearly half the staff on furlough.
• 1:27
  Speaker 3: They're either close contact or have COVID and something needs
• 1:32
  Speaker 3: to change. And whether that's to call a Code Brown
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  Speaker 3: or not, I'm not one hundred percent sure it's the
• 1:38
  Speaker 3: right it is the right move, but something needs to happen,
• 1:42
  Speaker 3: and I'm supporting Ama with Dr Parker to call for
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  Speaker 3: a Code Brown because whatever name you put to it,
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  Speaker 3: our staff are really struggling and something needs to happen.
• 1:57
  Speaker 3: And I don't like to annual leave or call back
• 2:02
  Speaker 3: people from manual leave or from their long service leave,
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  Speaker 3: but something needs to change. It needs to happen, and
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  Speaker 3: we're going to have burnout, We're going to have more
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  Speaker 3: more leaving nursing as a career and also probably in
• 2:20
  Speaker 3: the medical profession as well.
• 2:23
  Speaker 1: And Kat, I know a lot of people listening this morning,
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  Speaker 1: you're probably going to be feeling quite confused because the
• 2:29
  Speaker 1: Chief Minister on the show on Monday had said that
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  Speaker 1: you know, the COVID numbers that we're getting at the
• 2:34
  Speaker 1: moment are quite manageable. He said, there's one person in
• 2:38
  Speaker 1: ICU and that the numbers that are within the hospital
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  Speaker 1: are manageable. But then you know, when we hear from
• 2:45
  Speaker 1: from staff, it really doesn't seem like it's very manageable
• 2:49
  Speaker 1: at the moment.
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  Speaker 3: No, it's not manageable. There's three full COVID wards at
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  Speaker 3: Royal Dalen Hospital. There's many in Tenant Creek and Alice,
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  Speaker 3: bring few in Catherine and in Go. All of those areas,
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  Speaker 3: they're all understaff. They're all overworked overtime double shifts, twelve
• 3:13
  Speaker 3: twelve hour shifts or if not eighteen hour shifts. If
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  Speaker 3: they do a morning shift followed by a late shift,
• 3:21
  Speaker 3: or a late shift followed by a night duty shift,
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  Speaker 3: they're exhausted. They're getting towards burnout. And that's a good
• 3:29
  Speaker 3: call that we wanted the Health Minister and the Chief
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  Speaker 3: Minister and to stand up and pay attention that they
• 3:39
  Speaker 3: might think it's being okay, but it's not.
• 3:42
  Speaker 1: Yeah, it really doesn't sound like it is, I asked
• 3:46
  Speaker 1: Robert Parker, doctor Robert Parker on the show earlier this morning.
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  Speaker 1: You know do we need to be calling the ADF
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  Speaker 1: for some assistance here? He said, you know that that
• 3:54
  Speaker 1: is something that could potentially be looked at. But he
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  Speaker 1: also said, you know, we've got the National Critical Care
• 4:00
  Speaker 1: and Trauma Response Center here in the Northern Territory and that,
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  Speaker 1: as far as he's aware, Lenda Taras and his wonderful
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  Speaker 1: team haven't been called upon at this point.
• 4:09
  Speaker 2: Do they need to be cash.
• 4:12
  Speaker 3: Well, yes, normally with a code brown they would call
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  Speaker 3: the ADF or someone similar like And we have our
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  Speaker 3: great trauma center here in Darwin, which is fantastic. So yes,
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  Speaker 3: I feel in the non clinical type situations that ADF
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  Speaker 3: could be of support and to get the nurses and
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  Speaker 3: the doctors to where they really need to be and
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  Speaker 3: perhaps even discharging some of the patients that have COVID.
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  Speaker 3: A world, they might be in hospital for a broken leg,
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  Speaker 3: but they have COVID as well. They need to really
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  Speaker 3: look at their structure and their admissions into the hospital
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  Speaker 3: and see if they could be care for out of
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  Speaker 3: an acute bed and cared for perhaps in Howard Springs
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  Speaker 3: Quarantine Facility or another facility in Darwin.
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  Speaker 1: KAT That's a really interesting one and I actually asked
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  Speaker 1: the Chief Minister about this on Monday because I had
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  Speaker 1: been told from sources within the hospital that that's a
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  Speaker 1: very real situation at the moment, that there are people
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  Speaker 1: that are being forced to obviously stay in hospital because
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  Speaker 1: they have something else. As you've said, there is an example,
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  Speaker 1: let's say a broken leg, but then they have COVID
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  Speaker 1: but they're not actually acutely unwell, but they're needing to
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  Speaker 1: stay up there and keep that bed for at least
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  Speaker 1: seven days.
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  Speaker 2: Is there a lot of that happening.
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  Speaker 3: Cas, I believe it is happening. I don't know to
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  Speaker 3: what extent, but you know, if we can care or
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  Speaker 3: have these clients patients cared for or quarantine somewhere else
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  Speaker 3: for their COVID and have an outpatient appointments and follow
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  Speaker 3: up for their broken leg, etc. Then that should be happening.
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  Speaker 3: They shouldn't be taking up acute bed when they are
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  Speaker 3: well with a broken leg as a scenario, Kath.
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  Speaker 2: What is having the biggest impact on staffing right now?
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  Speaker 1: Staff that are out due to COVID or that need
• 6:21
  Speaker 1: for acute COVID care within the hospitals.
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  Speaker 3: Both plus well, there's always had vacancy rates in the
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  Speaker 3: territory have always been high, and now it's even spread
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  Speaker 3: less because we've got others working in the vaccine hubs,
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  Speaker 3: the contact tracing hubs, and then you've got those that
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  Speaker 3: are on furlough because they've either got COVID or have
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  Speaker 3: been a close contact. So the patients are being cared for,
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  Speaker 3: and I'm sure that the nurses would be doing their
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  Speaker 3: utmost extreme to care form them the way they normally
• 7:02
  Speaker 3: would care for them, but they might have instead of
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  Speaker 3: four patients to look after, they might have six or seven,
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  Speaker 3: or even on a night duty, up to ten or more,
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  Speaker 3: which is not sustainable. They're run off their feet and
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  Speaker 3: they're having that day in day out. Those that are
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  Speaker 3: working in full PPE in the COVID wards, some are
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  Speaker 3: coming to us to say that they're not always getting
• 7:26
  Speaker 3: their te brakes and meal breaks. Some days they're not
• 7:30
  Speaker 3: getting their meal break until you know, five or six
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  Speaker 3: hours after they've started shift. They're dehydrated. When they go home,
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  Speaker 3: they've got headaches. This is they're not getting their relief
• 7:43
  Speaker 3: because there is no one to relieve them. So we
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  Speaker 3: need more people on the floor to support them when
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  Speaker 3: they're in full ppe looking after the COVID patients, but
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  Speaker 3: not having extreme numbers more than four or five patients
• 8:00
  Speaker 3: to look after at a.
• 8:01
  Speaker 1: Time, Kath, you know this is something that you and
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  Speaker 1: I spoke about towards the end of last year.
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  Speaker 2: I'd said the same to Dr Parker.
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  Speaker 1: You know, it does seem as though it's an issue,
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  Speaker 1: particularly with that staffing that you've certainly known has been
• 8:15
  Speaker 1: on the horizon.
• 8:16
  Speaker 2: For some time.
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  Speaker 1: Kat. You know the Health Minister, as I understand it
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  Speaker 1: this morning, has said that they're not going to declare
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  Speaker 1: a cold Code Brown is striking on the cards here
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  Speaker 1: to try and make the government sit up and listen.
• 8:34
  Speaker 3: Well, we tried to do that, I guess Dr Parker
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  Speaker 3: and I was announcing the Code Brown to make them
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  Speaker 3: stand up in attention that that's not our aim at
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  Speaker 3: the moment is not to do a strike and like
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  Speaker 3: our counterparts have done in New South Wales yesterday morning,
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  Speaker 3: the New South Wales in Victoria have had this COVID
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  Speaker 3: with the delta and now the omnicon strain a lot
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  Speaker 3: worse than we have here in the territory, although when
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  Speaker 3: you look at the data, we've got the higher per capita.
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  Speaker 3: But they have tried to make the New South Wales
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  Speaker 3: government stand up and pay attention, and I guess that
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  Speaker 3: they got to that stage where they weren't listening and
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  Speaker 3: they thought that this would be the best option. We're
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  Speaker 3: trying to avoid that that would be more implications with
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  Speaker 3: leaving less nursing staff and medical staff on the floor
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  Speaker 3: to look on care for our patients. So we don't
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  Speaker 3: want to go down that track. But the nurses and
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  Speaker 3: the doctors do need help, and they need help now,
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  Speaker 3: and Victorian nurses especially, they're all burnt out and one
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  Speaker 3: in every six nursiness in Victoria are leaving the nursing
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  Speaker 3: profess profession kas.
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  Speaker 1: When we spoke to Dr Parker, he gave an example
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  Speaker 1: over nigh of one doctor saying to him that he'd
• 10:03
  Speaker 1: hoped that he'd get COVID so that he could.
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  Speaker 2: Have some time off. What a nurse is telling you
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  Speaker 2: at the moment.
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  Speaker 3: They haven't told us that, but I wouldn't be surprised
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  Speaker 3: if that has gone through their thoughts at some stage
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  Speaker 3: that that would be the only way that they could
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  Speaker 3: get some downtime. Which is very sad for that to
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  Speaker 3: be thought or said of any healthcare professional.
• 10:29
  Speaker 2: Yeah, it is. It's such a really tough situation.
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  Speaker 1: I think that our health professionals are under at the moment,
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  Speaker 1: everybody that's working there at the hospital. Kat. You know,
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  Speaker 1: if you could say one thing to the government really
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  Speaker 1: right now, is it you know that we need help.
• 10:45
  Speaker 3: Yes, definitely, the healthcare workers at the hospital need help
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  Speaker 3: and they need to hopefully discharge some patients and reduce
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  Speaker 3: the bed capacity within the Royal Darwin that. I know
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  Speaker 3: that they have stopped elective surgery about two weeks ago,
• 11:03
  Speaker 3: so I think that needs to continue for at least
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  Speaker 3: another month or so. And I'm very sorry for those
• 11:08
  Speaker 3: that are waiting on the elective surgery list. I apologize
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  Speaker 3: for that, but the nurses are really struggling.
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  Speaker 1: Oh okas it's such a difficult situation. And like you said,
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  Speaker 1: I know there'll be people listening who are really you know,
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  Speaker 1: who are really worried they're on that elective surgery wait list.
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  Speaker 1: But it really points to as well, you know, you
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  Speaker 1: guys have been talking about this and saying you need
• 11:30
  Speaker 1: that assistance and more stuff since you know, like midway
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  Speaker 1: through last year.
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  Speaker 3: That's right exactly, and it's just got worse over the
• 11:38
  Speaker 3: last two months. Alice Springs Hospital especially have been coping
• 11:43
  Speaker 3: okay up until about a week before Christmas and they're
• 11:48
  Speaker 3: really struggling down in Alice Springs as well. They were
• 11:52
  Speaker 3: kind of going okay, but it's just kind of gone
• 11:55
  Speaker 3: into emergency mode in their hospital as well. And everyone
• 12:00
  Speaker 3: has come out of their offices that were educators or
• 12:03
  Speaker 3: managers or co directors that would normally not do any
• 12:07
  Speaker 3: clinical role at all. They're all doing clinical roles every day,
• 12:11
  Speaker 3: every shift. And yes, so it it's tough times. It is.
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  Speaker 1: Kath a big thank you to all of our wonderful
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  Speaker 1: healthcare professionals, all of our nurses, all of our doctors,
• 12:25
  Speaker 1: everybody working within those hospitals, also in you know, all
• 12:28
  Speaker 1: those healthcare areas, Allied Health, Indigenous Health. We appreciate what
• 12:32
  Speaker 1: you do.
• 12:34
  Speaker 3: And thank you very much. Katie and your listeners appreciate that.
• 12:37
  Speaker 2: Thank you.