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Speaker 1: Well, as we know, a code yellow has once again

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Speaker 1: been called for Royal dar And Hospital due to peaks

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Speaker 1: in hospital capacity. A code yellow enacts a number of

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Speaker 1: practices in an effort to allow the hospital to closely

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Speaker 1: manage the peak until that pressure eases. We've also been

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Speaker 1: told that's patient safety is indeed a priority and the

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Speaker 1: dedicated staff they're at Royal Dahwin Hospital continuing to work

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Speaker 1: hard to try and ensure that Territorians continue to receive

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Speaker 1: the best patient centered care possible in these periods of

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Speaker 1: high demand. We also know that the Department of Health

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Speaker 1: is urging people who have non emergency health needs to

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Speaker 1: see their GP as soon as they become sick to

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Speaker 1: try and avoid becoming acutely unwell and needing hospital attendance. This, well,

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Speaker 1: they say, does help to care for those who need

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Speaker 1: a hospital bid So joining me on the line, I

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Speaker 1: mean this is something that we've been talking about for

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Speaker 1: a few weeks now. Joining me on the line is

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Speaker 1: the head of the Nursing midw with Reunion here in

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Speaker 1: the Northern Territory.

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Speaker 2: Cath Hatcher Goode. Wanting to you.

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Speaker 3: Cas Oh, good morning, Katie.

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Speaker 1: Kat You and I spoke about two weeks ago about

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Speaker 1: this very issue.

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Speaker 2: Has anything changed.

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Speaker 3: No, unfortunately, and that's very concerned, particularly if they're the

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Speaker 3: Department of Health are planning for the delta strain to

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Speaker 3: come to the territory in the next few months, that

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Speaker 3: the predicting this and if we're having Code yellows now

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Speaker 3: and we don't have any COVID in the territory, that

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Speaker 3: is a real concern.

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Speaker 1: Kath. I think you've just said right there in that

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Speaker 1: sentence what every territori and is worried about right now.

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Speaker 1: If we can't deal with a peak in demand now

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Speaker 1: when there's no COVID here, what on earth is going

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Speaker 1: to happen if we end up with COVID in the community.

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Speaker 3: I know it's going to be a real crisis. I mean,

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Speaker 3: we're in a crisis now with staffing shortages doctors and

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Speaker 3: nurses and midwives, and it's just going to be a

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Speaker 3: real emergency type response. Maybe we need to have OSMAC

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Speaker 3: come in and set up another hospital next to Royal

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Speaker 3: Darwin or Palmerston Hospital. I don't know what the answer is,

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Speaker 3: or I do know some of the answer is. It's

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Speaker 3: to get some of those non acute patients out of

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Speaker 3: the hospital and for some reason there's a big surge

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Speaker 3: in mental health issues, which I know that they need

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Speaker 3: to be cared for, but they perhaps need to be

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Speaker 3: cared for if they can in their own home in

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Speaker 3: the community. And to alleviate some of the beds acute

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Speaker 3: beds instead of running at a capacity of one hundred

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Speaker 3: and thirty one hundred and forty percent and need to

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Speaker 3: be down below the one hundred percent in the nineties

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Speaker 3: to accommodate that fluctuation up and down in situations like yesterday, kas.

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Speaker 1: Do we know exactly what's causing the code yellow this

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Speaker 1: time around? The last time you and I spoke, we

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Speaker 1: obviously had an increased number of age care patients who

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Speaker 1: I believe were taking up Was it around sixty beds?

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Speaker 3: Yes, just under sixty, Yes, that's right.

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Speaker 1: Has there been any pressure eased in that space yet?

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Speaker 3: I don't believe so. But the reason I heard that

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Speaker 3: there was a code yellow yesterday was a journalist bringing

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Speaker 3: me for a comment about it and then looking on

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Speaker 3: the internet to find yes, there's been a code yellow,

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Speaker 3: which is not very professional that they should let the

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Speaker 3: unions know that their members are in crisis point with

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Speaker 3: a code yellow happening, so we could perhaps respond and

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Speaker 3: help with that, but no, the Department of Health never

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Speaker 3: let the unions know.

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Speaker 2: Kats.

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Speaker 1: You know obviously you've touched on this as well. The

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Speaker 1: mental health capacity is having a big impact. Do we

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Speaker 1: know how many mental health patients we have sort of

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Speaker 1: in beds in the hospital at the moment that are

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Speaker 1: not in the actual facility that they should be in.

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Speaker 3: No, I do know there is a few, but I

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Speaker 3: don't know the actual number. I do know a few

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Speaker 3: weeks ago that it was more like sixteen to eighteen.

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Speaker 3: But I am having a meeting with some of the

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Speaker 3: higher executives in Royal Darwin Palmerston Hospital tomorrow, so that

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Speaker 3: is one of the questions I will be asking Kas.

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Speaker 1: What are your members telling you? What are nurses and

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Speaker 1: midwives who work at the hospital right now telling you

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Speaker 1: about the capacity at Royal Darwin Hospital.

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Speaker 3: They actually quite like when a code yellow is called,

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Speaker 3: particularly in emergency department, because then everyone comes out and

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Speaker 3: helps those in the more executive positions that are you know,

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Speaker 3: looking at rostering and management of the actual wards and units.

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Speaker 3: They come out into the clinical space and help where

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Speaker 3: they don't normally unless there's an urgent issue that needs help.

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Speaker 3: So quite a lot of the emergency department members tell

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Speaker 3: us they'd like a code yellow called more often, which

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Speaker 3: I don't think is the answer. But they are fatigued,

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Speaker 3: they are tired, you know, increase sickly at times because

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Speaker 3: they are doing you know a lot of overtime kats.

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Speaker 1: How big an impact is staffing the Howard Springs quarantine

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Speaker 1: facility having at the moment when it comes to this

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Speaker 1: pressure on the hospital, I.

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Speaker 3: Don't believe it is having an impact regarding the actual

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Speaker 3: patients or people that are there, but the nursing staff.

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Speaker 3: Obviously there's a small cohort that has come from Roaldal

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Speaker 3: and Palmerston Hospitals to work for a short term or

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Speaker 3: twelve month contract within Howard Springs. It is paying better money,

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Speaker 3: it is a good opportunity to expend your knowledge and

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Speaker 3: experience in working in that area where you might not

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Speaker 3: ever have that chance again in your nursing career. So yes,

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Speaker 3: that is impacting. But also the nurses that have come

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Speaker 3: from the hospital or the clinic space gone into the

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Speaker 3: vaccination hub and also the swabbing areas. I do know

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Speaker 3: that the Department of Health are looking further into having

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Speaker 3: some student nurses and student midwives that are doing their

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Speaker 3: university undergrad bachelor at sa CDU and instead of supporting

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Speaker 3: themselves in a jewelry store or working at Hungry Jacks,

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Speaker 3: they're going to be employing them in the well. They've

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Speaker 3: already been employing them in the Howard Springs facility, but

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Speaker 3: now looking at the swabbing and the vaccination area and

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Speaker 3: having say two or for student nurses to a registered

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Speaker 3: nurse and bringing back more clinical nurse registered nurses to

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Speaker 3: the hospital.

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Speaker 2: And do you think that that's going to help CAS?

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Speaker 2: Is that a good move?

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Speaker 3: I think it will help, and I think it is

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Speaker 3: a good area. A lot of the other all the

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Speaker 3: other states and territories have already moved in that direction.

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Speaker 3: ACT and the Northern Territory are a bit behind in

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Speaker 3: bringing that model into play, and I think it's a

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Speaker 3: very good way. And they're also using student doctors and

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Speaker 3: Allied health students into that area with contact tracing as well,

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Speaker 3: and that is going to relieve the area to still

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Speaker 3: be able to manage all that we need. But it's

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Speaker 3: bringing everyone back, well not everyone, but a lot of

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Speaker 3: people back into the clinical space within the hospital where

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Speaker 3: we have a crisis happening.

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Speaker 1: Kas there had been discussion just a week or so

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Speaker 1: ago about the scaling back of emergency at Palmerston Hospital.

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Speaker 2: Is that something that should be looked at.

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Speaker 3: I believe they are looking at that, and they're looking

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Speaker 3: at to implement a skeleton staff at the emergency department

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Speaker 3: at Palmerston and perhaps diverting all the ambulances past Palmerston

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Speaker 3: Hospital straight to Royal Darwin. I believe it hasn't happened,

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Speaker 3: but it's in the pipeline. I believe.

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Speaker 1: Wow, I are looking at scaling it back and just

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Speaker 1: having skeleton staff in the emergency at Palmerston Hospital.

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Speaker 3: Yes, I thought that you've already talked about that, Yeah,

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Speaker 3: a couple of weeks, but yet we have on it.

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Speaker 3: It's definitely on the play.

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Speaker 2: Yes, do you reckon like will that has much of

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Speaker 2: an impact here? Kath?

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Speaker 1: Is it? It sort of sounds like there's a few

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Speaker 1: factors at play in terms of the staffing issue, but

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Speaker 1: also in terms of increased numbers at the hospital and

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Speaker 1: us just not having the capacity to deal with everything.

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Speaker 3: Yes, that's right, but you know, before Palmerston Hospital was built,

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Speaker 3: we we did survive with one emergency department for all

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Speaker 3: of those years previous to that, and I think in

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Speaker 3: this type of crisis with the COVID and the the

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Speaker 3: all the nursing and the doctor staff are you know,

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Speaker 3: spread right across more facilities now, we need bring them

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Speaker 3: into one area so we can care for the public

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Speaker 3: in a much more efficient and hopefully better way that

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Speaker 3: we're not going to put anyone at risk.

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Speaker 1: Kats Are you mentioned before the OSMAT team, the National

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Speaker 1: Critical Care and Trauma Response Team and said, you know,

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Speaker 1: maybe we'll get to the point where they need to

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Speaker 1: set up next to Royal Darwin Hospital. Are we at

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Speaker 1: the point where they need to take back over the

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Speaker 1: Howard Springs facility.

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Speaker 3: Yes, I think that's a good idea, but I've mentioned

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Speaker 3: that to the Department of Health and they've said, no,

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Speaker 3: they need to be available to deploy anywhere else that

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Speaker 3: they're needed, which is what their services were set up

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Speaker 3: in the first place here in the territory. But yes,

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Speaker 3: at times I feel like that they need to take

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Speaker 3: over Howard Springs and bring all those staff back into

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Speaker 3: the hospitals.

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Speaker 1: So, I mean, the reality here is we know our doctors,

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Speaker 1: our nurses, all of those support staff works so bloody hard.

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Speaker 1: I think that anyone's gone to the hospital, or anybody

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Speaker 1: that's you know, that's been through any health facility in

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Speaker 1: the territory knows.

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Speaker 2: How hard they work.

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Speaker 1: What could change immediately in an effort to try and

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Speaker 1: ease these concerns.

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Speaker 3: Well, we'd love to have a purpose built age care facility,

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Speaker 3: which I believe is in the pipeline from the federal government,

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Speaker 3: but it needs to be built now and not by

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Speaker 3: the time they get through the process and build it,

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Speaker 3: it'd probably be in three or four years time. So

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Speaker 3: that needs to happen asap, and more perhaps community support

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Speaker 3: for the age care and disability services within the community

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Speaker 3: that would help alleviate some of the beds in Royal

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Speaker 3: Dale and Palmerston Hospital. But I think that the Department

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Speaker 3: of Health are on the right track in bringing a

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Speaker 3: lot of allied health student doctors, student nurses and midwives

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Speaker 3: into the areas that we've never had before. Well we've

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Speaker 3: always had the contact tracing, but not to the extent

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Speaker 3: that it's needed in the last eighty months and I

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Speaker 3: don't know how long into the future. With the swabbing

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Speaker 3: and the vaccine clinics and the quarantine facilities. We're going

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Speaker 3: to need these for at least a few years into

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Speaker 3: the future. So bringing students into that space, but supported

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Speaker 3: by doctors and registered nurses who are qualified, but bringing

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Speaker 3: people as back as we can into the hospital situation.

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Speaker 3: But they're also looking at bringing some international nurses out

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Speaker 3: from overseas, paying for their moves, paying for their quarantine,

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Speaker 3: you know, getting them set up here to work within

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Speaker 3: the territory. That is starting to happen and has been

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Speaker 3: happening down the Alice Springs area, but they need to

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Speaker 3: bring it in much quicker and much But we need

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Speaker 3: to grow our own also in the background. You know,

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Speaker 3: we need to be caring for those who are doing

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Speaker 3: their university Bachelor of Nursing a Bachelor of midwad free

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Speaker 3: through CDU. We need to support them through their student

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Speaker 3: three years. We need to nurture them and grow them

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Speaker 3: into really excellent quality registered nurses and midwives so we

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Speaker 3: know that they will stay here in the territory because

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Speaker 3: their family is here. So that also needs to happen

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Speaker 3: in the background. So in five to ten years time,

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Speaker 3: we have some fantastic nurses and midwives that will be

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Speaker 3: staying in the territory.

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Speaker 1: I know that the opposition is calling for the Health Minister,

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Speaker 1: Natasha Files to resign over the fourth Code yellow at

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Speaker 1: Royal Darwin Hospital this year.

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Speaker 2: Does that need to happen?

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Speaker 3: I don't think so. I think Natasha is she listens

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Speaker 3: to what we have to say. She does do her

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Speaker 3: best under the circumstances. She's, you know, obviously governed by

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Speaker 3: the executors within the Department of Health and with I

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Speaker 3: think they're all doing as much as they can under

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Speaker 3: the difficult circumstances of the COVID world.

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Speaker 2: Kat can I just ask very quickly.

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Speaker 1: I know that this is something that Marcia, one of

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Speaker 1: our listeners, has just been in contact with us about,

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Speaker 1: and you also just touched on it. She's questioning if

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Speaker 1: the government can import mango pickers to help industries, why

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Speaker 1: are we not bringing in nurses to support the industry.

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Speaker 2: And that's something that you just touched on.

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Speaker 1: If we would to bring some nurses from other countries,

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Speaker 1: even on a short term basis, how many do you

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Speaker 1: think we'd need?

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Speaker 3: Probably between fifty and one hundred. Wow, at least you'll

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Speaker 3: start with and then look at where all the other

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Speaker 3: gaps need to be filled. After that, well, Kath hatch

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Speaker 3: took one hundred, I would say, right across the territory.

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Speaker 1: And they'd be able to work in various different roles

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Speaker 1: I'm assuming hopefully. Yes, yeah, Kath Hatcher, I always appreciate

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Speaker 1: your time. I know that you know that you obviously

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Speaker 1: do your best to really stand up for our nurses

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Speaker 1: and our midwives and all of those healthcare professionals who

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Speaker 1: were working really hard under quite difficult circumstances by the

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Speaker 1: sounds of it. Thank you very much for your time

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Speaker 1: this morning, and no doubt we'll probably talk again in

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Speaker 1: the near future.

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Speaker 3: Thank you very much.