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Speaker 1: Now joining me on the line right now is doctor

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Speaker 1: Robert Parker, the head of the Australian Medical Association's NT branch.

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Speaker 2: Good morning to you, doctor Parker.

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Speaker 3: Morning Cody.

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Speaker 2: Now, we know that there is a.

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Speaker 1: Little bit more clarity at the moment when it comes

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Speaker 1: to the vaccination rates in our remote communities, but I

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Speaker 1: note that in the NT News today it is being

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Speaker 1: reported that some of our suburbs, well we don't really

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Speaker 1: know how they're going here in the top end due

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Speaker 1: to the fact that some of that data is not accessible.

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Speaker 2: What's your take on this, doctor Parker.

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Speaker 3: Well, again, I think my comments stand in the end

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Speaker 3: from the NT News. Ideally, I mean, given that everyone

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Speaker 3: has to record Medicare numbers and I know things they've

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Speaker 3: got recrests links to those Medicare numbers, it should be

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Speaker 3: able to someone should be able to sit down with

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Speaker 3: a data file and be able to get it. And ideally, yes,

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Speaker 3: it'd be good to know where the pocket there are pockets.

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Speaker 3: I mean, given that the end is going to reason

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Speaker 3: is more population, small difference of the probably not going

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Speaker 3: to make an awful lot of difference, but it'd be

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Speaker 3: good to know, for example, where the Palmerston's on a

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Speaker 3: rough concordance with Darwin to the vaccination rates.

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Speaker 1: Why is it so important do you reckon that? We know,

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Speaker 1: you know with some of our suburbs what the breakdown is.

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Speaker 3: Well, I suppose trying to work out what the factors

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Speaker 3: are that there stopping people getting vaccinated and there might

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Speaker 3: be local issues that affect that. So yeah, I mean

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Speaker 3: everything helps and trying to get our vaccination rates up

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Speaker 3: to twenty percent now.

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Speaker 1: The Chief Minister's Office has issued a statement this morning

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Speaker 1: saying that he has flagged that even when we reach

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Speaker 1: that eighty percent vaccination rate and above vaccination target, there

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Speaker 1: will still be extra measures in place to protect the vulnerable,

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Speaker 1: including remote communities for example, making the vaccination compulsory for

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Speaker 1: remote workers, and also land councils are interested in making

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Speaker 1: sure everybody coming.

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Speaker 2: Into their areas is double vax.

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Speaker 1: The government says that they support that, but they also

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Speaker 1: say that if when we're ready to take the next

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Speaker 1: steps as part of the national Plan, there are a

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Speaker 1: handful of communities where the vaccination rate remains low despite

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Speaker 1: the efforts of governments and others, that won't stop the

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Speaker 1: territories progress, and that they will look at the possibility

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Speaker 1: or consider additional public health measures to help restrict the

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Speaker 1: spread of COVID. So that could mean locking down some

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Speaker 1: of those communities.

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Speaker 2: Do you think that that's a good.

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Speaker 3: Move, Well, it's pretty much essential, I think. I mean,

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Speaker 3: they've got to again, we're a minded how dangerous as

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Speaker 3: buggy is that one guy in Sydney it wasn't vaccinated

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Speaker 3: or wearing a mask. That the two major cities now

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Speaker 3: being locked down for months, So it gets out and

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Speaker 3: about really quickly, and if it gets into an indigenous community,

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Speaker 3: it's likely to infect large numbers of people and kill

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Speaker 3: large numbers of people, which, apart from the awful tragedy

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Speaker 3: of those communities and the death rates, is going to

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Speaker 3: put an awful lot of pressure on an already very

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Speaker 3: very stressed health system.

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Speaker 1: Well that was what I was going to ask you

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Speaker 1: about as well, Dr Parker. Obviously, over the last couple

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Speaker 1: of weeks we have been talking a lot more about

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Speaker 1: some of the stress within our health system at the moment.

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Speaker 1: Kath Hatcher from the Australian Nursing and We're Free Union

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Speaker 1: joined us on the show just a couple of weeks

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Speaker 1: ago and said that we're at crisis point. How are

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Speaker 1: things tracking along at the moment from your perspective?

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Speaker 3: Okay, I've been on leave for the last week, very

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Speaker 3: much welcome leave. Look, but I suppose it gets back

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Speaker 3: to I'm not aware of the sort of day to

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Speaker 3: day issues, but it gets back very much to the

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Speaker 3: letter I wrote the Hunt a couple of years ago,

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Speaker 3: pointing out that territory hospitals were three times as busy

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Speaker 3: as as some other hospitals in Australia. So we're knowse

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Speaker 3: before COVID, so we've already got very high rates of

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Speaker 3: acuity on a very stressed helth system, underfunded in certain areas.

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Speaker 3: The Morgue mental health have been underfunded for years, you know,

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Speaker 3: while the parts have obviously been better funded, but the

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Speaker 3: you know, just indicates that it will. Before COVID, territory

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Speaker 3: health system was very stressed, and I mean the argument

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Speaker 3: is still there that nothing has changed. In fact, the

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Speaker 3: pressure has probably grown even more than when I wrote

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Speaker 3: that letter to Minister.

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Speaker 2: Hunt and Dr Parker.

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Speaker 1: We know that even at that press conference at the

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Speaker 1: Chief Minister held a bit over a week and a

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Speaker 1: half ago. It was when he was talking about the

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Speaker 1: roadmap forward. When we get to eighty percent vaccination rate.

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Speaker 1: He had said, you know, the reality is that our

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Speaker 1: health system could not handle a COVID outbreak.

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Speaker 2: Is that your sentiment?

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Speaker 3: Yes, well, basically with the hospital that we're current level

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Speaker 3: four and code yellows all the time if you do

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Speaker 3: get a massive outbreak in a community. We've seen what

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Speaker 3: happens in parts of Sydney where hospitals are basically overwhelmed

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Speaker 3: with COVID cases. And my understanding is in Melbourne at

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Speaker 3: the moment, half of Royal Melbourne Hospital is currently devoted

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Speaker 3: to dealing with COVID cases, So that's half one of

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Speaker 3: the major hospitals in Melbourne are dealing with COVID issues

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Speaker 3: in that city. So you can just imagine if we've

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Speaker 3: got it COVID outbreak in Darwin what that would mean

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Speaker 3: in terms of a hospital. It's already pretty much beyond

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Speaker 3: full capacity.

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Speaker 2: Dr Parker.

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Speaker 1: Do you feel as though, and again this is something

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Speaker 1: we spoke to Cath Hatcher about, do you feel as

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Speaker 1: though the taking on of the Howard Springs quarantine facility

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Speaker 1: by nt Health has also added pressure to the two

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Speaker 1: major hospitals.

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Speaker 3: Well, again, I would expect Kat put up the argument

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Speaker 3: that lots of staff. I've drifted over to the facility

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Speaker 3: you were in Hell And that's my understanding as well,

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Speaker 3: that the House Springs facility where it's probably much better

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Speaker 3: roster system and whatever, that people aren't working night shifts

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Speaker 3: and they've probably got much better rosters and people are

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Speaker 3: probably getting better paid, has trained a lot of the

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Speaker 3: stuff we would otherwise be working in territory hospitals away

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Speaker 3: from that. So that's just adding to the pressure.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, and I know that you did mention as well

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Speaker 1: the code yellows and did you say it was stage

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Speaker 1: four or what did you say?

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Speaker 2: Sorry, I couldn't remember it.

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Speaker 3: For stage four is the level before code yellow. So

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Speaker 3: stage four is delivered, do you get to be four

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Speaker 3: code yellow?

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Speaker 2: And are we are we at that very often? Doctor Partner,

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Speaker 2: reasonably often?

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Speaker 3: Yeah, it's just a constant pressure. And again it gets

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Speaker 3: back to the problem is again that the arguments I

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Speaker 3: pointed out to Minister Hunt, a lot of this lies

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Speaker 3: in primary care. We haven't got the primary care resources

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Speaker 3: that other states do. We have double on that letter,

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Speaker 3: I pointed out, we have double the number of avoidable admissions.

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Speaker 3: So that's that's admissions that would normally keep people away

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Speaker 3: from hospital. We've got double the number compared to other

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Speaker 3: states because of again the the issues with primary care

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Speaker 3: and the lack of resources in primary care, and it

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Speaker 3: just puts immense pressure on the two hospitals, the two

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Speaker 3: major hospitals in the territory. Where are the only places

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Speaker 3: with lights on? You know when everything else is shut

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Speaker 3: gerald are on an Old Springs hospital.

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Speaker 2: Does it come down to funding, do you think? Or

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Speaker 2: is it or what is that?

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Speaker 3: Well? Equitable funding? Again, I know I've had this ugging

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Speaker 3: with reson it is I mean, as I pointed out

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Speaker 3: that in that submission to the Productivity Commission, because we

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Speaker 3: don't have the primary care and access to Medicare that

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Speaker 3: other states have to treat, one medical condition a remote

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Speaker 3: in a remote community, a diabetic foodoles costs the territory

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Speaker 3: taxpayer one hundred and thirty three thousand dollars per year.

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Speaker 3: That's for one patient, one medical condition, and a use

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Speaker 3: whales a similar patient with a similar condition cost their

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Speaker 3: taxpayer zero because their population can get access to Medicare

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Speaker 3: funded resources through primary care. And so that's a real

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Speaker 3: drain on the territory budget. You know, if you han't

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Speaker 3: spent that amount of money on health compared to other states.

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Speaker 3: It really puts a lot of pressure in terms of

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Speaker 3: an equitable health budget. And I know a little practics

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Speaker 3: on coming up about the GSD and we get funded

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Speaker 3: for that, but I just don't think it really covers

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Speaker 3: that significant expense the Territorians have got to pay to

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Speaker 3: get equitable health compared to peace in the Southern States.

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Speaker 1: Well, doctor Robert Parker, I know that it sort of

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Speaker 1: doesn't seem as though it's an issue that's going to

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Speaker 1: go away in a hurry. In fact, you know, our

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Speaker 1: health system is always understrained, but it does seem like

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Speaker 1: at the moment it's under additional pressure. And should we

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Speaker 1: end up with COVID in the community even more so, Well, again.

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Speaker 3: Kate, I'd like to play tribute to all the heroes

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Speaker 3: who work in the health system. That's doctors, nurses, ots, physios,

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Speaker 3: social workers, psychologists, cleaners, hospital staff, yep, the kitchen staff,

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Speaker 3: everyone who's making you know, who are really making the

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Speaker 3: whole system work. And you know, again they're doing a

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Speaker 3: great job on tremendous precius. They've good on all of them.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, absolutely, i'd certainly echo that sentiment, Doctor Robert Parker.

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Speaker 2: Always good to catch up with you. Thanks so much

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Speaker 2: for your time this morning.

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Speaker 3: Okay, thanks Gate,