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Speaker 1: It is just on twenty minutes after nine o'clock and

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Speaker 1: joining me live on the line, Kath Hatcher from the

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Speaker 1: Nursing and mid We're reunion here in the Northern Territory.

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Speaker 2: Good morning to you, Kath, Good morning Katie.

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Speaker 1: Kat Thanks so much for your time and well for

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Speaker 1: all the time that you've given us over the last

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Speaker 1: few weeks. Are you able to give us a bit

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Speaker 1: of an update on the situation around what we have

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Speaker 1: spoken about before as a health crisis in the top

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Speaker 1: end at the moment.

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Speaker 3: Yes. You may have seen it on the news a

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Speaker 3: few nights ago that there's about twenty ish patients going

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Speaker 3: to go to Redi's nursing home over the next few

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Speaker 3: weeks and they're going to do that slowly from Royal

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Speaker 3: dar and Palmerston Hospital, so that alleviates about I think

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Speaker 3: it's about twenty two patients a good start, and that

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Speaker 3: will leave another forty or just under forty still to

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Speaker 3: go to an age care or disability services. So that

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Speaker 3: is good news.

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Speaker 2: It is.

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Speaker 1: It certainly is particularly for those families who've obviously been

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Speaker 1: waiting to get their elderly family members into one of

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Speaker 1: those nursing homes. That is equipped to look after them,

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Speaker 1: So still about forty to go. Okaz, that's you know,

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Speaker 1: it's a step in the right direction. How's the stress

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Speaker 1: on our nurses at the moment, They.

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Speaker 3: Still are under the pump and still in the crisis

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Speaker 3: and stressed mode, but that is going to improve over

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Speaker 3: the next couple of weeks. So there's been some new

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Speaker 3: staff in orientation last week, so they're out onto the

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Speaker 3: floor within the wards this week. The emergency department last

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Speaker 3: beginning of the week was about twenty two full time

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Speaker 3: equivalent staff down on their roster. Wow, they have had

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Speaker 3: some start this week and they've got approximately sixteen going

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Speaker 3: to start in the next three to four weeks. This

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Speaker 3: is some relief in the next month for those staff.

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Speaker 2: Kats.

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Speaker 3: There is other staff going to start. Two new graduates

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Speaker 3: and those that didn't get a new graduate program they

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Speaker 3: are also going to start in the next few months.

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Speaker 1: So, kath you said there about twenty staff under at

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Speaker 1: the beginning of the week within the emergency department. Is

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Speaker 1: that across both the Palmerston and Royal Darwin emergency departments.

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Speaker 3: Yes, yes, their roster is one roster because sometimes they

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Speaker 3: might work in one week a couple of days at

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Speaker 3: Palmerston and the rest of the week in Royal Darwin.

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Speaker 3: So their roster is across the two campuses. So that's

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Speaker 3: twenty two full time equivalent down on the roster at

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Speaker 3: the beginning a week. That's what the members told me.

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Speaker 3: But management are recruiting at the moment and they would

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Speaker 3: have had eight approximately eight start within this week, perhaps

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Speaker 3: Thursday today, Yes, they might have started today.

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Speaker 1: Excellent, So hopefully that eight extra nursing staff starting today

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Speaker 1: to add to that roster.

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Speaker 2: It does sound as though we've still got a way

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Speaker 2: to go.

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Speaker 3: Though, definitely. And the other sixteen that they're recruiting, I'm

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Speaker 3: not sure whether they're full time, but sixteen more bodies

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Speaker 3: into the emergency department across the two campuses will also

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Speaker 3: help the eight beds that they've closed in the Palmerston Hospital,

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Speaker 3: which has taken away two staff from Palmerston to be

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Speaker 3: put into the Royal Darwin. That hasn't been a good

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Speaker 3: plan for the staff at the moment because there's still

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Speaker 3: the same amount of patients going to the emergency department

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Speaker 3: at Palmerston, which is within their rights to do so

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Speaker 3: to get the medical or surgical care they need, but

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Speaker 3: they're just having to do a few more transfers, which

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Speaker 3: takes a staff member away, particularly if they're a higher

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Speaker 3: risk they need a nurse transfer with them. So they're

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Speaker 3: not seeing any relief with the Palmerston Ed at the moment, tess.

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Speaker 1: Is it time like do we need to seriously look

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Speaker 1: here at closing down the Palmeston Emergency Department?

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Speaker 2: Is that the answer?

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Speaker 3: No, you can't do that because it's a hospital. They

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Speaker 3: actually need to have some sort of emergency back up

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Speaker 3: for the public. So I think there's probably just need

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Speaker 3: to be a bit more public awareness. But you know,

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Speaker 3: who do you know if you're not in the nursing

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Speaker 3: or medical profession, for someone who lives out in that

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Speaker 3: rural area or Palmerston area, you're going to go to

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Speaker 3: the nearest hospital and you know they may then be

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Speaker 3: asked to transfer to the Royal Darwin Hospital depending on

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Speaker 3: their needs and their requirements. So it's still going to

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Speaker 3: be a bit of a problem. But the public just

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Speaker 3: need to be aware that they may get transferred into

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Speaker 3: Royal Darwin if they go to Palmston Hospital.

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Speaker 1: Cass When you look across the board now at those

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Speaker 1: two at those two hospitals, Palmerston Hospital and also the

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Speaker 1: Royal Darwin Hospital. I know that last week when you

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Speaker 1: and I spoke, you spoke of the need for those

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Speaker 1: one hundred staff. Realistically up to one hundred staff to

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Speaker 1: come across from overseas. Has there been much of an

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Speaker 1: update in this space, because it was a fairly hot

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Speaker 1: topic on Tuesday when I'd interviewed the Health Minister, and

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Speaker 1: while she said that there is recruitment underway, couldn't tell

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Speaker 1: us sort of how many staff are potentially coming across

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Speaker 1: from overseas.

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Speaker 2: Do you have much insight?

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Speaker 3: No, I don't have that insight. I do know that

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Speaker 3: I heard a couple of days ago that the whole

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Speaker 3: two campuses are just a little over seventy full time

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Speaker 3: equivalent staff down right across all of the units, and

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Speaker 3: that would be particularly in the emergency department, theater and

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Speaker 3: the surgical areas and a few other wards. Alice Springs

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Speaker 3: has got about one to two full time equivalents down

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Speaker 3: on each of those wards, and Go Catherine would have

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Speaker 3: about a five percent your vacancy rate with their hospitals too.

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Speaker 3: So if we did get one hundred staff from interstate

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Speaker 3: or overseas, that would alleviate all the public hospitals in

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Speaker 3: the territory pretty much, and then you would need to

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Speaker 3: look at the rule and remote clinics because they're in

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Speaker 3: trouble as well.

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Speaker 1: Well. Yeah, I was going to say that's something that

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Speaker 1: we'd spoken to John Patterson from AMSAM briefly about earlier

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Speaker 1: in the work.

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Speaker 2: But yeah, hundred stuff.

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Speaker 1: So whether they come from interstate or overseas, Kath I know,

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Speaker 1: in Western Australia, for example, they've got some really great

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Speaker 1: incentives to try and you know, really attract.

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Speaker 2: Nurses from overseas.

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Speaker 1: I believe it's around eight thousand dollars in those relocation costs.

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Speaker 1: They're also covering quarantine, etc. Do we need to look

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Speaker 1: at putting together some kind of package like that in

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Speaker 1: an effort to fill these vacancies.

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Speaker 3: With certainty, I do know that Alice Springs Region are

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Speaker 3: doing that already. They're paying for their removal costs to

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Speaker 3: Alice Springs, they're paying for their quarantine. I believe in

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Speaker 3: the top end they're definitely paying for their quarantine. Not sure,

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Speaker 3: haven't had confirmation of whether they're paying for their removal costs,

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Speaker 3: but I would hope that that is happening. Across the

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Speaker 3: central as well as the top end as well.

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Speaker 1: So kas can I just go back to just for

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Speaker 1: a moment, you'd said, with those two campuses, So just

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Speaker 1: over seventy staff down across the Darwin and Palmerston Hospital,

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Speaker 1: what kind of impact does that have for our nurses,

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Speaker 1: you know, trying to do their day to day jobs

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Speaker 1: and really trying to look after patients.

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Speaker 3: Every day they're doing, you know, looking at one staff

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Speaker 3: member each week, they would be doing at least a

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Speaker 3: double shift, if not coming in them, they're day off

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Speaker 3: and doing another shift. Between the Union US and the

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Speaker 3: Department of Health, we're making sure that each staff member

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Speaker 3: is not going over ridiculous hours in you know, they're

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Speaker 3: forty hours per week plus one to two shifts at

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Speaker 3: the most and not being ridiculous with their overtime because

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Speaker 3: then you get the tea and then you get increased

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Speaker 3: sickly as a result of that. So it is impacting

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Speaker 3: all of the staff. You know, there are staff that

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Speaker 3: work part time, and there's a reason that they work

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Speaker 3: part time because of family commitments, etc. So whether they're

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Speaker 3: doing extra shifts would be totally up to them. But

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Speaker 3: they're all doing a fabulous job within the whole two

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Speaker 3: campuses including Alice Springs as well all around the territory.

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Speaker 3: They're doing an awesome job and they're going to have

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Speaker 3: to keep it up for at least another few months,

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Speaker 3: if not, you know a little bit longer till there's

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Speaker 3: a bit more recruitment and sustainability within the employment.

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Speaker 2: So, Kat, that is the answer here at this point.

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Speaker 1: You know, do you think that realistically that recruitment we've

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Speaker 1: got to try. You know, we've got to try to

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Speaker 1: get some of those stuff, whether they're from interstate and overseas.

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Speaker 2: I know you'd spoken.

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Speaker 1: About our early graduates as well, but that's the issue here.

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Speaker 2: We've really got to try and fill those spaces.

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Speaker 3: Yes, and we need to encourage those through CDU to

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Speaker 3: put their applications in and you know, cross the t's

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Speaker 3: and dot the eyes and put the effort in to

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Speaker 3: get their applications in, to get a graduate position within

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Speaker 3: the territory and to hope to support the grown, homegrown

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Speaker 3: nurses and midwife so we can have a really good

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Speaker 3: sustainable employees within the territory that are going to stay.

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Speaker 1: Kat, just very quickly, something that had been raised with

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Speaker 1: me a little bit earlier, in the week by a

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Speaker 1: nursing student, well actually a very new graduate. She's just finished,

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Speaker 1: but she's waiting until that intake in February next year.

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Speaker 2: She said that there aren't you.

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Speaker 1: Know, there aren't any positions that they're able to get

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Speaker 1: into before then. Is there any way that we can

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Speaker 1: speed up some of these graduate nurses getting into the

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Speaker 1: health system and getting into some of the jobs. I

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Speaker 1: know that they potentially can't fill those ones where we

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Speaker 1: need very experienced nurses, but into other roles so that

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Speaker 1: we can try to get things moving along.

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Speaker 3: She might be able to try getting a casual contract

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Speaker 3: and working within the Vaccine Hub or the Howard Springs

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Speaker 3: Quarantine facility. That may be an option. But they call

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Speaker 3: it the CLEARS, which is the clinical and Education Research

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Speaker 3: center that does all the orientation throughout the top end,

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Speaker 3: and they have specific that they've only got a staff

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Speaker 3: of three and they are under the pump twenty four

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Speaker 3: to seven educating, orientating and getting staff up to speed

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Speaker 3: before there go out onto the wards and into the units.

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Speaker 3: So the reason why they have a specific number of

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Speaker 3: intakes is because they've got to work out all the

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Speaker 3: other education around that as well.

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Speaker 1: Well. Cas Hatcher. We always appreciate your time. Thank you

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Speaker 1: so very much for having a chat to us this morning.

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Speaker 1: In a big shout out to all of our nurses,

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Speaker 1: but and our doctors, all of the staff at our

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Speaker 1: hospitals and within our health service. They're doing a phenomenal

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Speaker 1: job and I know that it is an incredibly difficult time.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, you're very welcome.

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Speaker 2: Thanks Katie, Thank you,