Katy Gallagher afraid to admit we may have problems with our Hospitals

Sepi,
just in case you weren’t aware, public hospitals constitutionally come under the responsibility of the State and Territory governments. The feds can only intervene if the state and territory governments let them – hence why Katy is quietly hiding in a corner

One of the fun things about having a growing population.

There are a lack of GPs in Canberra also though. Sometimes it is literally impossible to get in to see one, even if you are willing to pay.

The whole health system seems to be eroding – nurses are resigning in droves, we have fewer and fewer drs, and many of them are imports, and waiting lists are growing and growing.

Something needs to be done.

In case you’re not medically inclined….Sats is the amount of oxygen in your blood. Normal people have 97-98% (so the nurse told me).

I love it how the signs say “If you’re experiencing difficulty breathing…please see a nurse immediately”.

In my case, they told me sit down and keep sucking on Ventolin.

Sats were under 88% by the time I got a bed. The amount of people in there for shit a GP could have dealt with pissed me off.

They just didn’t want to pay for the GP….

Captainwhorebags is correct – bed blocking is a huge issue which makes ED a really difficult environment. I walked into the ED at Calvary on monday and it was overflowing with patients, with no available beds on the ward. This is not an uncommon occurrance. TCH and Calvary have a bypasss system for when this occurs – ambulances are directed to the hospital NOT on bypass. Howevre only one hospital can be on bypass at a time (obviously – first in best dressed policy) so patients can continue to arrive when the hospitals dont have capacity. I know that TCH goes on bypass quite regularly and the impact on Calvary is huge.

I currently have afriend receivng radiotherapy in Sydney as the wait in canberra was 8 weeks – crazy!

But healthcare delivery is a complex service. We need to review waiting times and benchmarks – but we also need more trained healthcare professionals who are being paid appropriately with reasonable workload demands – ie $$$ and lots of them. I know our EBA ran out in April – and we still have not got a new one (we will luckily get back pay!) and the ACTPS has had super dropped back to the compulsory 9% from the previous 15% (which all Federal PS’s receive).

What message does that give people about the value of the staff at Calvary and TCH?

Are the ACT Govt willing to invest? Are the poeple of the ACT willing to vote accordingly?

I agree with Captainwhorebags. My wife was crook on Sunday night and, while it only took about an hour and a half to see a doctor, the blockage seemed to be a lack of a bed to put her in ( didnt need it in the end).In the space of 3 hours we were treated by a nurse, a doctor twice and had bloods taken/examined. While I would have preferred to be at home it wasnt a wholly negative experience. While the staff seemed rushed they knew what they were doing.
And, while the waiting room had a few people who looked like they could have waited until the next day its’ all subjective isnt it. What is important to me might not be important to you. Doesnt make it any less important. The Emergency system has it well covered with their priorities system. If a nruse deems that you need to see a doctor quickly then you see a doctor quickly. If you are deemed to be not that important then you wait a long time. Works well.

If you have to wait to get into the ED, then it is more likely to be a case of bed block rather than staff shortage. General lack of beds in the hospital wards (often due to elderly patients waiting for nursing home spots) means that people are stuck in ED waiting to be admitted.

Even though the system is in a seriously bad state, if you are sick you will get seen eventually. If you’re not seriously ill, then expect to wait a while. At least hospital care isn’t a privilege solely for the wealthy.

I went to emergency at about 2.30am on a Saturday night, wasn’t that busy there were about 5 people waiting.
I spent 3 hours in emergency with a 17-year-old boy bleeding out on their floor. (He had a big cut in his leg)
I asked them about every ten mins when were they going to see him and kept getting told your next.
He finally passed out from blood loss. He had a blood pressure reading of 41 over 40. Pretty much not with the living.
By the time I had got home we had been there for over 24 hours for something that could have been cleaned in stitched within an hour.
I have no faith in the public health system…

You guys do realise that the emergency department is but the tip of a much bigger iceberg, don’t you? You could staff the ED with one hundred doctors and one hundred nurses 24/7, but that wouldn’t make a whit of difference to your waiting lists.