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Speaker 1: Joining me on the line is the opposition's member for Namajira.

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Speaker 1: Here's the Opposition spokesperson for Health Bill Yeh.

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Speaker 2: Good morning to you, Bill, Good morning Katie, and good

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Speaker 2: morning to your listeners in Darwin.

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Speaker 1: Bill, another situation here where we've got a code yellow

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Speaker 1: at the Royal Darwin and Palmerston Hospital.

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Speaker 2: Yeah. Look, this is the fourth code yellow this year

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Speaker 2: and I think it's what runly about a month from

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Speaker 2: the last one. I just I'm wondering what the government

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Speaker 2: are doing to address the problems that we're seeing in

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Speaker 2: our hospital. But we know these code yellows are coming

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Speaker 2: from some bed blocks due to age care and mental

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Speaker 2: health beds being used in the general hospital. And government

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Speaker 2: has been saying they're going to address this now for

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Speaker 2: years and years and years and still haven't, and of

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Speaker 2: course without providing those additional beds for those people outside

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Speaker 2: the hospital. Of course the trades bed block for people

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Speaker 2: coming into A and E and into the wars. And

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Speaker 2: now we're seeing, of course possible restrictions on electing surgeries

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Speaker 2: again off the back of what has been eleven code

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Speaker 2: yellows in the last was it now financial year or

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Speaker 2: excuse me, you're right, Yeah, and we've found out through

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Speaker 2: estimates that the government has been paying what it's cost

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Speaker 2: the government five hundred will and tax payers at the

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Speaker 2: end of the day, five hundred and thirty three thousand

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Speaker 2: dollars to buy in bed services from the private hospital

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Speaker 2: for the forty six days of code yellows we've had

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Speaker 2: in the last financial year. And that comes into one

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Speaker 2: hundred and sixteen thousand dollars a Daycadian. That's not sustainable

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Speaker 2: long term, and that's money that could be used for

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Speaker 2: doing other things to benefit territories because they haven't actually

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Speaker 2: solved the problem or dealt with the problem that they're

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Speaker 2: known about for a long time.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, this is the thing. It is something that doesn't

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Speaker 1: seem to be going away. And I think that you know,

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Speaker 1: the fact that we have had such a high volume

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Speaker 1: of those code yellows and we hear from the government,

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Speaker 1: you know, it means that there are able to manage

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Speaker 1: things differently. Obviously, the Department of Health has come out

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Speaker 1: and said yesterday that elective surgeries haven't been deferred at

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Speaker 1: this time and that there are surge management plans in

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Speaker 1: place to relocate resources and support with admission and discharge processes.

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Speaker 1: But fundamentally, it means that there is stress on those hospitals.

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Speaker 1: No matter how you spin it, no matter how you

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Speaker 1: want to look at it, there is stress on those hospitals.

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Speaker 1: And then when you look at the fact that we're

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Speaker 1: actually having to buy beds from the private hospital at

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Speaker 1: a cost of five hundred and thirty three thousand dollars,

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Speaker 1: it's pretty unbelievable.

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Speaker 2: Well, that's right, Katie. And then if you look at

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Speaker 2: it now the stress in their hospitals and particular stress

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Speaker 2: on the people working there those hospitals that we've going

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Speaker 2: to try and manage those bed issues and shaffle people around.

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Speaker 2: Those people the cold faces are dealing with those things

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Speaker 2: on a day to day basis and really at the

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Speaker 2: end of the day, it's certainly not fair on them.

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Speaker 2: And when you think about it, so we're in a

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Speaker 2: codila today that's cost the territory government and now us

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Speaker 2: being taxpayers one hundred and sixteen thousand dollars just for

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Speaker 2: today probably to buy in bed services from the private

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Speaker 2: hospital adjacent to the hospital so that we can provide

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Speaker 2: services to territory. In so the fact that they said

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Speaker 2: the government haven't dealt with the issues that they've known

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Speaker 2: about for ages because two years ago, three years ago,

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Speaker 2: it was COVID that was responsible for all the Code

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Speaker 2: yellows and everything else, and I can certainly understand that

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Speaker 2: we're under a lot of pressure at that time. But

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Speaker 2: the COVID cross has been gone for quite a while

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Speaker 2: in the acadium and we've actually seen an increase in

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Speaker 2: Code yellows since that time, and that says a lot

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Speaker 2: to me about the fact that there's been some underlying

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Speaker 2: issues there for a long period and government haven't put

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Speaker 2: measures in place to deal with those, and now we're

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Speaker 2: just seeing them escalating. And we've seen that nsory current

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Speaker 2: code yellows, it's every couple of months at the moment.

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Speaker 2: Just any other jurisdiction in the country said they be inquiries.

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Speaker 2: You've be just about looking at Royal commissions into why

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Speaker 2: you've got your major hospitals going in indicaid yellows and

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Speaker 2: here the government seem to think it's day to day

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Speaker 2: business and that's just not on bill.

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Speaker 1: We did hear from the AMA, the Australian Medical Association

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Speaker 1: a little bit earlier this morning. We were talking to

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Speaker 1: doctor Robert Parker and he said, you know, fundamentally, what

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Speaker 1: this does come down to. Is it something that he

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Speaker 1: wrote to the then Health Minister Greg Hunt about many

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Speaker 1: years ago that we do need you know, we do

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Speaker 1: need more federal funding when it comes to our health system.

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Speaker 2: Well, I'm aware, Katie. There was some federal funding given

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Speaker 2: to the territory a few years back to put in

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Speaker 2: those additional age care beds, and I believe there was

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Speaker 2: some funding provided for some additional mental health beds, but

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Speaker 2: the government haven't been on the front foot to deliver these.

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Speaker 2: So that's why we're still seeing a lot of those

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Speaker 2: age care patients and those mental health patients in our

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Speaker 2: hospitals and not in specialized facilities, if we found out

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Speaker 2: an estimate. So they're going to do a trial secure

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Speaker 2: care facility at Holts there was actually there was actually

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Speaker 2: built for forensic mental health patients, but was not really

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Speaker 2: ever used for that purpose properly, and they're finally how

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Speaker 2: many years after that was built, they're finally going to

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Speaker 2: do a trial out there to try and possibly keep

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Speaker 2: some of those forensic mental health patients from the prison

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Speaker 2: who are currently taking up beds in RDH and in

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Speaker 2: those wards in there and manage them out at that

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Speaker 2: secure care facility. This is years on from that being built,

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Speaker 2: and there's certainly not been proactive in using that facility

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Speaker 2: or trying to address those issues and reduce the pressures on.

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Speaker 1: Ardka Hey Bill, I know that they'd been sort of

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Speaker 1: a question asked by one of our listeners a bit

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Speaker 1: earlier this morning, Devi in Pinelands, and she'd said, Katie,

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Speaker 1: you know, why don't you ask people how they'd feel

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Speaker 1: about the possibility of restrictions when it comes to alcohol,

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Speaker 1: and you know, talking about the impact and the volume

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Speaker 1: I guess of admissions that potentially we do have at

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Speaker 1: our hospitals in the top end due to alcohol. I mean,

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Speaker 1: I don't know, like I know that you guys are

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Speaker 1: living through those alcohol restrictions in our springs, but you

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Speaker 1: do wonder what kind of impact some of that alcohol

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Speaker 1: misuse has.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, and I think you do, Kate. I think it

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Speaker 2: certainly has to be taken into account because look, government

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Speaker 2: are basing the success of restrictions down here on the

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Speaker 2: reductions and emissions to A and E and reductions in

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Speaker 2: DV assaults, which is great, it's good to see. It's

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Speaker 2: nice to see those reductions. But the other issue around alcohols,

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Speaker 2: we're still seeing crime issues here in Central Australia, but

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Speaker 2: the government being saying that there's been a direct correlation

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Speaker 2: between alcohol restrictions and reduction and presentations to A and

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Speaker 2: E in certain areas, so and obviously has an effect,

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Speaker 2: and government that's trodding these figures out saying it is

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Speaker 2: an effect. But to take that and wider say to

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Speaker 2: Catherine Darwin, I don't know. I don't know whether it

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Speaker 2: would work up there. I think at the end of that,

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Speaker 2: I think government needs to actually target the person and

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Speaker 2: not the product, so provide those treatment options for those

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Speaker 2: problem drinkers rather than targeting the product. I think that's

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Speaker 2: a much better option. I think a much better long

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Speaker 2: term solution.

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Speaker 1: Well, Bill Yan, the Member Fanama Jura and also the

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Speaker 1: opposition spokesperson for Health, I appreciate you having a chat

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Speaker 1: with us this morning. Thank you very much for your time.

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Speaker 2: No is it all cardy cheers.

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Speaker 1: Thank you,