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Speaker 1: Now a long awaited second rescue helicopter for CareFlight was

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Speaker 1: officially launched by the federal government yesterday, but the AW

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Speaker 1: one three nine aircraft has already started operating, began last month,

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Speaker 1: just days before it responded to the terrible ospray crash

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Speaker 1: that killed three US marines. The nineteen point nine to

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Speaker 1: five million dollar investment also includes a second medi jet

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Speaker 1: and it does mean that medivac services are going to

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Speaker 1: be available year round from my understanding. So joining us

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Speaker 1: on the line to tell us more is the Federal

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Speaker 1: Minister for Health Mark Butler. Good morning to your minister.

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Speaker 2: Good morning, good to talk to you.

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Speaker 1: Now, how vital are these extra air assets for the

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Speaker 1: Northern Territory for CareFlight.

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Speaker 2: Well, that makes such a huge difference. Up until now,

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Speaker 2: having only one helicopter means that for one hundred and

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Speaker 2: ten days every year, so that's about thirty percent of

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Speaker 2: the year, the helicopter is out of action just to

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Speaker 2: get made. So having two helicopters in the air that

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Speaker 2: already started last month means that there will be three

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Speaker 2: hundred and sixty five days per year coverage for territorians.

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Speaker 2: In the top end as well, there's a second jet

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Speaker 2: coming on which should be available for service, if not

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Speaker 2: late this year, then very early next year. And that's

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Speaker 2: going to again add huge capacity, not just for Territorians

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Speaker 2: in the top end to get those sort of transfers

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Speaker 2: down to some of the southern hospitals for very serious events,

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Speaker 2: but also to project capability into the region, which is

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Speaker 2: such an important part of what the terrific ozmat team

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Speaker 2: that's been based in Darwin pretty much since the Barley

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Speaker 2: bombing is able to do in our region. So it's

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Speaker 2: a huge lifting capability.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, they do a phenomenal job. I mean CareFlight and

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Speaker 1: indeed the Ozmat team, they all do an incredible job.

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Speaker 1: I think we as Territorians are very proud of the

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Speaker 1: work that they do. In terms of the additional resources,

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Speaker 1: how many patients do we anticipated going to benefit from

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Speaker 1: that fleet expansion, although.

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Speaker 2: Telling me when I was talking to them yesterday that

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Speaker 2: they're dealing with a huge increase in the number of patients,

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Speaker 2: so thousands of patients every year are using the care

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Speaker 2: Flight resources. So this will obviously allow them to do

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Speaker 2: more than they've previously been doing because those helicopters have

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Speaker 2: been the helicopter has been out of action for thirty

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Speaker 2: percent of the year. But what it also does is

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Speaker 2: give peace of mind to territory in I mean, every

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Speaker 2: Australian should have access to our terrific, world class healthcare

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Speaker 2: system no matter where you live, whether you live in

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Speaker 2: the inner suburbs of Sydney and Melbourne or whether you

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Speaker 2: live in remote parts of the Northern territory. And closing

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Speaker 2: that tyranny of distance is exactly what CareFlight has been

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Speaker 2: doing for so many years up in the top end,

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Speaker 2: and this additional capacity improves their ability to do that.

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Speaker 1: What's it going to mean for territories that live in

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Speaker 1: remote areas and being able to respond two different incident

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Speaker 1: and sound in remote.

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Speaker 2: Areas well, it just gives peace of mind as much

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Speaker 2: as anything. I will mean that some care flight has

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Speaker 2: so much more capacity to respond to emergencies out in

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Speaker 2: remote parts of the territory. These helicopters are very long

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Speaker 2: range helicopters. But as well, obviously you've got the the

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Speaker 2: aeroplane capacity that care flights have for some time, but

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Speaker 2: particularly in your wet season up in the top end,

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Speaker 2: helicopters are often really the only way in which you

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Speaker 2: can get people out in emergency situations. And get them

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Speaker 2: back to Dahwin for treatment.

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Speaker 1: Minister, have they got adequate runways to land in some

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Speaker 1: of these locations or is that now additional work that's

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Speaker 1: going to be needed in some communities.

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Speaker 2: Well, this is a discussion. I have a care flight

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Speaker 2: yesterday as well. I mean, there is a program they

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Speaker 2: tell me that the Commonwealth's involved in and assessing runways

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Speaker 2: around the territory. But you know that often, you know,

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Speaker 2: the wet season up there is so significant that really

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Speaker 2: the only option will be a helicopter. But that's something

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Speaker 2: the Commonwealth is working with the Northern Territory government with

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Speaker 2: care flights on an ongoing basis about as well.

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Speaker 1: Now, I know it's not the only announcement that you've

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Speaker 1: been making while you are here in the Northern Territory.

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Speaker 1: I understand that two new bolk billing clinics are opening

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Speaker 1: in Darwin and Alice Springs pretty soon. When are they opening?

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Speaker 2: Well? Up in Darwin, the Palmerston clinic will be open

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Speaker 2: from the first of October for the next couple of weeks,

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Speaker 2: and the one in Alice on the first of November.

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Speaker 2: This is part of the election commitment we made to

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Speaker 2: open more than fifty urgent care clinics around the country.

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Speaker 2: They'll be open seven days a week, fully bold build

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Speaker 2: and open for walking patients. Importantly, this is for people

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Speaker 2: who need urgent care, so care that really can't wait

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Speaker 2: for an appointment that sometimes might be a week in

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Speaker 2: the waiting to get into usual GP, but where you

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Speaker 2: don't need to go into a fully equipped hospital. So

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Speaker 2: I think about your kid falling off the skateboard and

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Speaker 2: hurting their arm, or getting a deep cut at home,

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Speaker 2: or something that isn't life threatening but certainly needs urgent attention.

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Speaker 2: The importance of this is both giving care to people

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Speaker 2: when and where they need it in the community, but

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Speaker 2: importantly it's going to take huge pressure off our hospitals.

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Speaker 2: We know that about fifty percent of all the presentations

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Speaker 2: to the emergency departments, for example at the RDH or

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Speaker 2: at the Palmerston Hospital for what the clinicians call non

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Speaker 2: urgent or semi urgent conditions, so they need to be

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Speaker 2: treated quickly, but they don't need a hospital. And so

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Speaker 2: this new capacity is going to take a lot of boxes.

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Speaker 2: Fully bolt build, it's open seven days instead of having

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Speaker 2: to wait for six or eight hours in an emergency

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Speaker 2: department when your kid falls off the skateboard, you can

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Speaker 2: go there and get quick, free treatment. But it also

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Speaker 2: means the hospitals are able to focus on the sources

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Speaker 2: of conditions they were built for, but life threatening once

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Speaker 2: in a lifetime emergencies that really do need the sort

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Speaker 2: of world class hospital treatment we have available here in Australia.

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Speaker 1: Well and Minister probably can't come soon enough, to be

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Speaker 1: really frank about it, because we've had five Code yellows

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Speaker 1: already this year. Just last week we had another Code

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Speaker 1: Yellow at Royal Darwin and Palmerston Regional Hospital. There's a

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Speaker 1: real sense in the community at the moment you know

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Speaker 1: that the hospitals are under enormous stress.

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Speaker 2: They are, and that this is not just in the territory.

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Speaker 2: It's not just in Australia, it's right across the world.

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Speaker 2: Health systems are really strained and stressed by three and

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Speaker 2: a half years of a global pandemic. You know, what

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Speaker 2: we're finding is people weren't getting the care that they

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Speaker 2: needed for their non COVID conditions because of a whole

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Speaker 2: range of obvious reasons. You know, health resources were diverted

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Speaker 2: into the COVID emergency. People were locked down, not able

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Speaker 2: to see their doctors. Even yesterday, the clinicians, your Health

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Speaker 2: Minister and Chief Minister Natasha bars were telling me what

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Speaker 2: I'm being told all around the country, which is people

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Speaker 2: are sicker than they otherwise would have been if we

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Speaker 2: weren't facing that emergency. What we've also seen as a

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Speaker 2: legacy of COVID is workforce is just really crunched. There

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Speaker 2: is a huge workforce shortage right across the world, including

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Speaker 2: here in Australia. It's a shortage in the big cities

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Speaker 2: and as always it's a more acute shortage in places

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Speaker 2: like the Northern Territory. So our hospitals are under real pressure.

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Speaker 2: The urgent care clinic is really designed to take some

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Speaker 2: of that pressure off. But health ministers, including Natasha and

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Speaker 2: I are working very hard on ways in which we

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Speaker 2: can boost the workforce because that is really the major

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Speaker 2: constraint we have in our hospital system right now.

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Speaker 1: Well, yeah, and I guess, and as you've got new

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Speaker 1: clinics coming online, how do we make sure we've got

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Speaker 1: the staff for those in addition to the hospitals.

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Speaker 2: Well, the point is that those people are going to

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Speaker 2: hospitals anyway, so that they're going to be cared for somewhere.

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Speaker 2: These aren't. This isn't discretionary care. This is care that

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Speaker 2: people absolutely have to have. So it's about trying to

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Speaker 2: get that care in the right place. And that shouldn't

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Speaker 2: shouldn't be in a hospital emergency department that's staff to

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Speaker 2: a very high level. It should be in a primary

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Speaker 2: care setting, which is what these urgent care clinics will deliver.

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Speaker 1: Now, I know you are pressed for time, I do

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Speaker 1: want to ask you, though we've spoken quite extensively about

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Speaker 1: some of the strains on the hospital in you know,

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Speaker 1: here in Darwin and Palmerston over the recent weeks. We

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Speaker 1: caught up with the AMA president here in the Northern Territory,

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Speaker 1: doctor Robert Parker, just last week, and we've spoken about

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Speaker 1: the fact that that age care patients are indeed occupying

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Speaker 1: a number of beds in Royal Darwin and also Palmerston

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Speaker 1: Regional Hospital because there are not other places for them.

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Speaker 1: He said that the reality of this is like we

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Speaker 1: could do with another hundred aged key beds right now.

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Speaker 2: Well, that's right, And I was actually at the Palmerston

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Speaker 2: Hospital visiting some of the wards there with Natasha Files

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Speaker 2: and the clinicians to have a look at some of

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Speaker 2: these pressures. Again, there pressures right around the country to

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Speaker 2: some degrees about having age care beds out in the

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Speaker 2: community that are properly staffed, which is why it was

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Speaker 2: so important that we took our putting nurses back in

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Speaker 2: the Nursing Homes policy to the last election. We need

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Speaker 2: more registered nurses in age care so they can care

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Speaker 2: for those patients. But there are some more complex issues

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Speaker 2: that we're working through with states as well, and Natasha

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Speaker 2: Files and I are only talking about them yesterday. A

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Speaker 2: lot of the older patients that are stuck in hospitals

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Speaker 2: right now have much more complex needs. They might have

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Speaker 2: a decade ago, much higher level dementia, some conditions that

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Speaker 2: are difficult to manage in a traditional age care setting.

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Speaker 2: So again that's a big piece of work health ministers

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Speaker 2: and I are dealing with right now. But other than

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Speaker 2: the pressure on emergency departments, I recognize that is probably

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Speaker 2: the other major pressure on the hospital systems right now.

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Speaker 2: It's one we must address.

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Speaker 1: What do you say to those families that are listening

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Speaker 1: this morning that are under enormous stress because they actually

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Speaker 1: can't get a place for their grandma or for their

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Speaker 1: mum or for their dad who they're caring for at home,

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Speaker 1: who has dementia or has another really serious health issue

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Speaker 1: and they are not able to get a spot for them.

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Speaker 2: Well, we're doing everything that we can to address the

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Speaker 2: backlog in age care places. I mean, we put in

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Speaker 2: place a huge funding boost to age care in the

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Speaker 2: May budget. The per day per bed funding for age

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Speaker 2: care providers went up by seventeen percent in May, so

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Speaker 2: very substantial additional money, but also some really important regulations

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Speaker 2: to address some of the staffing shortages that really are

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Speaker 2: at the heart of some of the challenges the age

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Speaker 2: care sectors had over the last several years, and your

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Speaker 2: listeners would have seen them through the Four Corners Report,

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Speaker 2: through the Royal Commission. A lot of that was exacerbated

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Speaker 2: in COVID as well, so you know, there is a

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Speaker 2: real challenge in the age care sector. But we've really

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Speaker 2: put our shoulder to the will. So there are more

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Speaker 2: nurses there now, there's more staff working there, and there's

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Speaker 2: substantial more funding for age care providers.

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Speaker 1: So can we expect any further? Look? Can we can

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Speaker 1: we expect anything further for us here in the Northern Territory.

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Speaker 1: Can we expect any further announcements or you know, any

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Speaker 1: additional beads to come online, or any extra work you know,

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Speaker 1: to try and sort this issue out well.

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Speaker 2: So again, the Northern Territory government and I had to

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Speaker 2: talk about that yesterday about some possible locations for new

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Speaker 2: age care facilities. We think we've got the funding measures

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Speaker 2: in place now to encourage that sort of investment from

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Speaker 2: age care providers. We think we've got the staffing arrangements

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Speaker 2: in place, particularly around nursing being available twenty four hours

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Speaker 2: a day, seven days a week in age care facilities.

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Speaker 2: We think we've got that fixed now. We just need

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Speaker 2: the investment to start to flow. And I know Natasha

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Speaker 2: Files is really focused on trying to help age care

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Speaker 2: providers find the land they need to be able to

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Speaker 2: build that capacity and deal with those issues your listeners

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Speaker 2: are they're concerned about well.

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Speaker 1: Federal Health Minister Mark Butler, I appreciate your time this morning.

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Speaker 1: Thank you for speaking with us.

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Speaker 2: Good to talk to you.

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Speaker 1: Fe Laddis, Thank you