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Speaker 1: Well.

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Speaker 2: Earlier this week we learned the Northern Territories health system

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Speaker 2: is under some serious pressure, with hospitals stretched as flooding

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Speaker 2: and extreme weather drive more patients into regional centers. We

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Speaker 2: know that code yellow's called across our major hospitals including RDH, Royal,

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Speaker 2: Darwin and Palmerston as well as Alice Springs as NT

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Speaker 2: Health works to manage that overcrowding and patient flow. Now,

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Speaker 2: the CEO of NT Health, Chris Hosking, joins us on

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Speaker 2: the line.

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Speaker 1: Good morning, Chris AKD and good morning to your listeners.

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Speaker 2: Thanks so much for your time. Now, Chris, what exactly

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Speaker 2: is causing this situation? Is it the fact that we're

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Speaker 2: really you know, we've got so many people here at

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Speaker 2: the moment and we're suffering from unprecedented weather conditions.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, well you've pretty much summed it up there, KDI.

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Speaker 1: Those are the main drivers. It's a little bit different

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Speaker 1: in the south to the north. In central Australia when

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Speaker 1: we've had a lot of wet whether it's quite normal

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Speaker 1: to end up with a lot more people in town

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Speaker 1: and that's what's happened in Alice and having CO yellow

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Speaker 1: in Alice Springs is quite unusual. I have to say

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Speaker 1: we've had two in the last twelve months, but none

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Speaker 1: for many years prior to that. But we've just had

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Speaker 1: a lot of extra people in town and a lot

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Speaker 1: of them not well, and we've had a range of

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Speaker 1: presentations and we had to declare the code yellow there

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Speaker 1: earlier in the week. It's a little bit different here

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Speaker 1: in the top end, but again it relates in the

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Speaker 1: main to the fact that the population in Darwen is swollen.

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Speaker 1: We've got all the people we've evacuated due to flooding

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Speaker 1: temporarily housed in Darwin. We've got the patients from Catherine

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Speaker 1: Hospital which we had to close a couple of weeks

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Speaker 1: back and move everyone from Catherine up to Darwin, and

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Speaker 1: now we have been in the process of steadily transitioning

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Speaker 1: them back to Catherine. But obviously with the weather forecasts

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Speaker 1: at the moment, we're being pretty careful about that, particularly

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Speaker 1: with our higher acuity seeker patients. And this time of

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Speaker 1: year when it's wet, we naturally see a lot of

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Speaker 1: more people in town, and quite often people you know

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Speaker 1: living long grass, living rough and they're generally people who've

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Speaker 1: got higher health care needs than others, and to give

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Speaker 1: your listeners a bit of a picture we had when

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Speaker 1: we called the code yellow at Royal Darwin. We had

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Speaker 1: more than twenty people double bunked in emergency. Every hospital

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Speaker 1: bed was full. We had taken over a ward in

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Speaker 1: the private hospital to look after the patients from Catherine

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Speaker 1: Hospital and there were still fifty people waiting to be

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Speaker 1: seen in emergency. So we were really left with no

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Speaker 1: option but to call it. And it's we're staying on

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Speaker 1: top of it, but it's really tough for our people.

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Speaker 1: They're doing a bloody terrific job.

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Speaker 2: They sound like they are. Chris. What I really like

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Speaker 2: about that is your being bluntly honest about it. You know,

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Speaker 2: for far too long. I think over the years we

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Speaker 2: sort of, you know, we skirt around the edges about

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Speaker 2: you know, why we're under pressure within emergency. You know,

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Speaker 2: there's discussion about double bunking, but I can't recall the

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Speaker 2: CEO ever joining us on the show before and actually

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Speaker 2: telling us that that is the case and that there's

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Speaker 2: also fifty people in the waiting room. And do you

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Speaker 2: know what, I think it has to happen. People need

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Speaker 2: to know that that's what's going on, because how else

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Speaker 2: are we meant to, you know, to manage it and

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Speaker 2: to cope if people don't realize just how stretched the

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Speaker 2: staff are.

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Speaker 1: And as you say, Katie, them's the facts, and it's

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Speaker 1: I think it's a good thing that Territorians know that

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Speaker 1: those are the facts, because it gives you a bit

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Speaker 1: of an indication of what our doctors and nurses and

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Speaker 1: others are dealing with. And it is taking a toll

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Speaker 1: on our people. They're doing a magnificent job, but we're

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Speaker 1: having to put the call out right across the Health

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Speaker 1: Apartment for people to step up and come and spend

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Speaker 1: some time at one of the major hospitals to give

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Speaker 1: their colleagues a bit of respite because, particularly if we

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Speaker 1: get more rough weather in the next little while, as

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Speaker 1: the Bureau of Mets predicting we might, we could find

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Speaker 1: ourselves back in a really uncomfortable position by about Sunday.

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Speaker 2: Well, you know this is the thing. You've given us

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Speaker 2: the facts. How do we deal with it now, Chris,

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Speaker 2: you know this is the juggle right now. Stuff for

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Speaker 2: pulling double shifts, I'm sure and absolutely you know, yeah,

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Speaker 2: doing their best.

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Speaker 1: Well, we're doing that work now. Obviously we've got a

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Speaker 1: few days before that horrible big load makes its way

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Speaker 1: across from Queensland and based on what the tracking map's

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Speaker 1: saying at the moment, and it'll give the East Darnham

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Speaker 1: region a nafty touch up. But it's the amount of

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Speaker 1: water that it's going to put on the ground and

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Speaker 1: where that water falls and what catchment zone that's in

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Speaker 1: is the key thing for us, because if it ends

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Speaker 1: up in a catchment zone associated with Catherine and that

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Speaker 1: river comes up again, we could find ourselves where we

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Speaker 1: were ten days ago or worse, which would be really

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Speaker 1: difficult to contemplate. So what we're doing at the moment

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Speaker 1: is we're organizing our teams and our rosters and basically

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Speaker 1: getting everything ready so that we are ready to go

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Speaker 1: if we need to ramp it up another couple of notches.

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Speaker 1: The latest update I've had from the year I've met

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Speaker 1: is that on the best scenario modeling, I think will

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Speaker 1: be okay. On the worst scenario modeling, I think we'll

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Speaker 1: be right back where we were at the peak of

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Speaker 1: it ten or twelve days ago, and that would be

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Speaker 1: really difficult for our people that have been working really

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Speaker 1: hard for a couple of weeks now to keep the

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Speaker 1: lights on keep the doors open. You know, some of

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Speaker 1: these people their homes are underwater in Catherine and they're

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Speaker 1: still turning up for work every day, which is just

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Speaker 1: so Yeah, it is unbelievable.

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Speaker 2: So at the moment, from the Department of Health's perspective,

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Speaker 2: you're literally, you know, you're emergency planning for what comes

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Speaker 2: next over the next few days.

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Speaker 1: Correct, we're doing that work now so that if we

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Speaker 1: have to escalate, we can pull the trigger on that.

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Speaker 1: But we're paying really good and we as a public service,

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Speaker 1: we have an emergency management council. We meet daily. I'll

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Speaker 1: be attending that meeting this afternoon. We get a very

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Speaker 1: detail briefing from the Bureau of met People, which is terrific,

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Speaker 1: and we're just making sure we're as prepared as we

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Speaker 1: possibly can be. I think if we do get the

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Speaker 1: escalation in the bad weather, I think it will mean

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Speaker 1: probably sustained Code yellow situations in our hospitals, which is

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Speaker 1: a bit unusual. I mean, generally, when we have a

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Speaker 1: Code yellow, it's a short, sharp spike, it's resolved within

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Speaker 1: a few days and we get back to business as usual.

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Speaker 1: I can't recall ever having to work in those conditions.

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Speaker 1: For you know, seven, ten, twelve days, I'm hoping that

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Speaker 1: the weather gods smile on. It's Katie and we don't

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Speaker 1: get we don't get impacted as much as we might,

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Speaker 1: but the next few days will tell a story.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, look, I think we all feel the same Chris,

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Speaker 2: what's your advice to territory ins today listening? I know

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Speaker 2: that if someone's crooked, you know, if they're really crooked,

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Speaker 2: they need to come to the hospital. But what's the advice.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, Look, our standard advice when we call a code

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Speaker 1: yellow is please use unless you're really crook. Obviously, if

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Speaker 1: you're really crook or it's an emergency situation, come to

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Speaker 1: the hospital. We don't want to frighten people off turning

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Speaker 1: up at d if they genuinely have a medical emergency,

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Speaker 1: and we will always see you. We are the public

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Speaker 1: health system. We see everybody, and you know, when conditions

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Speaker 1: are like this, we you know it takes a bit

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Speaker 1: of time, but we always see the most urgent, most

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Speaker 1: acute case as a priority. But if you're not that crook,

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Speaker 1: or if you you know it's not an emergency situation,

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Speaker 1: please make use of the urgent care clinics. The Palmerston

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Speaker 1: Urgent care clinic is an option. It's not twenty four

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Speaker 1: to seven like the ED, but I know they do

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Speaker 1: work extended hours and I'm going I feel a bit

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Speaker 1: sheepish saying, you know, maybe go and see your GP,

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Speaker 1: because I know it's not always easy. I think I

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Speaker 1: have a GP appointment the other day. It took me

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Speaker 1: ten days to get an appointment. This is a thing,

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Speaker 1: but I just please, if you're not really crook, try

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Speaker 1: and use one of those other avenues. But please don't

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Speaker 1: be dissuaded from presenting a ED if you're really unwell,

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Speaker 1: because chances are you need medical attention and the hospital

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Speaker 1: is the right place to be when you're in that situation.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, spot on. Well, Chris Hosking, the CEO of the

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Speaker 2: Department of Health, really appreciate your time this morning. Let's

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Speaker 2: hope that things don't get too crazy over the weekend

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Speaker 2: when it comes to the weather and everybody gets the

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Speaker 2: opportunity for a bit of reprieve.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, no, fantastic, Katie. And look, if I could just

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Speaker 1: send a shout out to all of the people in

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Speaker 1: anti health who are just doing an amazing job at

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Speaker 1: the moment, just to let them know how much their

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Speaker 1: work is appreciated. We know it's tough and you're fronting

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Speaker 1: up every day in these sort of conditions and I

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Speaker 1: know Territorians appreciate it, and certainly on behalf of the department,

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Speaker 1: we appreciate it very very much.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, spot on, Chris, good to talk to you. Thank

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Speaker 2: you as always for your time, no worries, Katie all

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Speaker 2: the best mate, Thank you you two