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Speaker 1: Code yellow. This was the ban on elective surgery. It

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Speaker 1: was lifted by Essay Health a week or so ago,

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Speaker 1: but it seems a Code yellow might end up have

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Speaker 1: becoming a Code cream just to water down code yellow.

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Speaker 1: Because of ramping that is continuing to impact hospitals, the

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Speaker 1: lack of free beds. Individual health areas have been told

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Speaker 1: to health networks have been told to manage their surgery

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Speaker 1: numbers in accordance. This is the statement from Essay Health.

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Speaker 1: I'll read it to you. Actually it's the words I'm

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Speaker 1: using anyway. Following the standout of the Code yellow, each

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Speaker 1: local health network has been directed to manage their elective

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Speaker 1: surgery numbers in accordance with available bed capacity, preserving capacity

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Speaker 1: to meet emergency demand to make sure those presenting with

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Speaker 1: urgent needs can be cared for in the category one

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Speaker 1: an urgent Cablegrey two surgeries are taking place as well

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Speaker 1: as day procedures as these don't require an impatient bed.

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Speaker 1: It's sort of a mellow code yellow. So let's talk

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Speaker 1: about this with doctor John Williams, President of the Australian

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Speaker 1: Medical Association. John, good morning, Good morning. It seems a

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Speaker 1: band without it being in place.

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Speaker 2: Yes, I guess it's a reflection of what we're known

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Speaker 2: for some time that you know, there's not the bed

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Speaker 2: capacity to deal with the health problems of our community,

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Speaker 2: and that's affecting elective surgery, it's affecting ED and ramping.

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Speaker 2: And also we know that our out of hospital services

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Speaker 2: are under pressure. So all of our health system now

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Speaker 2: is under pressure and then stretched. I don't want to

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Speaker 2: say that as a negative thing. It is a negative thing,

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Speaker 2: but we know that there is ways to work through

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Speaker 2: that and to solve these problems.

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Speaker 1: What are they give us an example of a couple.

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Speaker 2: We do know that our bed capacity needs to be

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Speaker 2: increased in the state, and the state comman is working

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Speaker 2: on that and we hope to see those beds come

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Speaker 2: online as soon as possible, So capacity in all areas,

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Speaker 2: in the ED beds and elective surgery capacity needs to

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Speaker 2: be increased. I guess for the long term though, we

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Speaker 2: really know that prevention is better than cure, which means

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Speaker 2: general practice and primary care is really the solution to

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Speaker 2: this in the long term as far as reducing cost

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Speaker 2: to the health system and improving the health of our

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Speaker 2: population overall.

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Speaker 1: Your GPS though, would be seeing people impacted by these

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Speaker 1: people who have thought, well the code yellow, it's allf

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Speaker 1: elective surgeries back on. I need to find out depending

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Speaker 1: on what category they're in, they can either get it

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Speaker 1: or they won't.

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Speaker 2: Yeah. Absolutely, there's no doubt this is devastating for the

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Speaker 2: individual patients. You know, there's often his stories, you know

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Speaker 2: people you know, the surgery is booked and then rebooked

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Speaker 2: again and again, So this is incredibly disruptive. And also

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Speaker 2: they're living with the condition that having the surgery for

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Speaker 2: so they're you know, the suffering or disability is effected

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Speaker 2: huesy by the delay in the surgery. So this is

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Speaker 2: a huge impact on people in their lives.

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Speaker 1: And I imagine too for members that you have in

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Speaker 1: the AMA, GPS WHO and doctor's clinicians, etc. Who are

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Speaker 1: struggling to cope with this. I'm about to talk to

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Speaker 1: Bernadette MAMR Holland and I've spoken with her many times

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Speaker 1: on the burnout they'd be going through as the system

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Speaker 1: is stressed to the gills.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, it is as really difficult conditions for our members,

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Speaker 2: for doctors to work under, all health professionals to work

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Speaker 2: come theer a system that we know we could be

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Speaker 2: doing a lot better. We know we could solve these

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Speaker 2: problems sooner for our patients, but the system is just

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Speaker 2: delaying it.

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Speaker 1: All right, I appreciate your time, John, Thank you, Thank you,

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Speaker 1: doctor John Williams, President of the AMA here in South Australia.

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Speaker 1: Bernadette Marl Holland from the essay Salaried Medical Officers Association

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Speaker 1: should Bernadette good morning, should say health be just straight

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Speaker 1: with everybody and say look, we still have a ban

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Speaker 1: in place effectively because they seem to oh absolutely.

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Speaker 3: I mean, we really need to be more transparent as

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Speaker 3: to what's going on in our health sector. We know

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Speaker 3: it's broken. We need to start say it's broken. You know,

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Speaker 3: the term elective surgery doesn't mean optional. It means these

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Speaker 3: are important surgeries that may be able to be put

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Speaker 3: off for a few weeks or a couple of months.

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Speaker 3: But the delays that we're seeing is creating incredible frustration

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Speaker 3: for the surgeons, is creating anxiety for the patients. The

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Speaker 3: longer we delay the elective surgery for patients, we know

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Speaker 3: and we're told that there's poorer outcomes, there's longer stays,

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Speaker 3: and there's worse thing conditions for those people. So we

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Speaker 3: really need to start to look at we're ramping on

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Speaker 3: with our ambulances, we're ramping in our abs, and what

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Speaker 3: this is telling us is that we're ramping elective surgery

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Speaker 3: and people are incredibly frustrated.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, well that's exactly it. It's not just ramping in

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Speaker 1: hospitals for people who need to get in there, of

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Speaker 1: elective surgery in people's own homes effectively. So what are

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Speaker 1: clinicians telling you about this latest edict from Essay Health.

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Speaker 3: Look, they're really worried and concerned for their patients, so

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Speaker 3: really frustrated about it. We know they're really tired and

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Speaker 3: that there's limited workforce planning to meet these really large

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Speaker 3: demands that we're seeing for our doctors. So they're really

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Speaker 3: concern that people or clinicians will just leave the public

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Speaker 3: health system and go elsewhere because there are no answers

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Speaker 3: coming to them particuling in our For our surgeons, particularly

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Speaker 3: for our conditions working on the woods, there are no answers.

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Speaker 3: The risk is increasing for them, the risk is increasing

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Speaker 3: for the patients with no solutions in sight. Quite frankly,

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Speaker 3: what we've been reading in the advertisers today and what

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Speaker 3: we're hearing from our members have had enough?

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Speaker 1: What does that mean? Though practically they might have had enough,

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Speaker 1: but unless they walk off the job, which is lasting

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Speaker 1: anyone wants, it's a situation that looks like continuing.

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Speaker 3: That's right, Well, I think really what we're seeing and

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Speaker 3: this comes down to the transparency that you were talking about.

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Speaker 3: People are quietly disengaging. They're reducing their fde, they're going

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Speaker 3: off to be locans, they are retiring. People are looking

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Speaker 3: for alternatives. And it's not now what you would think

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Speaker 3: would be. Medicine used to be one of those occupations

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Speaker 3: that people really were keen to get into. But you know,

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Speaker 3: families see what their mums and dads do as doctors

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Speaker 3: and they go, oh, maybe I might look for something else.

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Speaker 3: This should be an occupation that we are really keen

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Speaker 3: to be participating in. We need workforce planning, and we

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Speaker 3: actually need to support all of our doctors, including our surgeons,

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Speaker 3: to be able to do the job. They're the ones

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Speaker 3: that face the patients and have to say, sorry, your

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Speaker 3: elective surger has been delayed. Will book you in at

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Speaker 3: another time, And some of these patients said, than seen

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Speaker 3: is investigative surgery for things like cancers. We saw the

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Speaker 3: other day issues in regards to I, these are really

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Speaker 3: anxiety provoking things we knew that were coming, and yet

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Speaker 3: here we are.

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Speaker 1: Indeed, here we are all right, Bernadette, apreciate you your insights.

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Speaker 1: Thank you, Bernadette mal Holland, Essay Salary Medical Officers Association.

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Speaker 1: This is in response to Essay Health, which canceled the

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Speaker 1: code yellow a week or so ago, but has directed it.

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Speaker 1: Turns out, in their statement, each local health network Central, North, South,

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Speaker 1: Wherever else to manage their elective surgery numbers in accordance

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Speaker 1: with their available bed capacity and preserve capacity to meet

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Speaker 1: emergency demand, which means only those with urgent needs an

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Speaker 1: urgent elective surgery can be cared for. So it's not

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Speaker 1: a code yellow, it's a perhaps if for Essay Health

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Speaker 1: is looking for a theme song that might be the one,

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Speaker 1: But there it is a code cream, a code mellow yellow.

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Speaker 1: Call it what you like if you're waiting for elective

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Speaker 1: surgery and you found yourself in this position after hearing

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Speaker 1: last week the code yellow is off, Well, what do

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Speaker 1: you think today? Where do you stand with that? Have

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Speaker 1: you heard from them? Is yours still on