Page 3049 - Week 10 - Tuesday, 23 September 2014
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A rule of 85 per cent average bed occupancy rate should apply in every hospital.
What did the Medical Journal of Australia say, Madam Assistant Speaker? It said:
The Australian Medical Association … and the Australasian College for Emergency Medicine consider bed-occupancy rates above 85% to have a negative impact on the safe and efficient operation of a hospital.
That is from the AMA report card and the journal from 2013.
What is actually going on in ACT hospitals today? We know exactly what is going on in ACT hospitals today, because the head of the emergency department told us that patient numbers at Canberra Hospital were unsafe. This has been said by the emergency department head, Dr Hall. He said it on ABC radio on 1 September 2014. It is worth reading exactly what the doctor said, because, unless we confront what is going on, we will not have an adequate solution; we will not get the priorities right for getting health care in the ACT working as it should. The story from the ABC goes like this:
A senior staff member at the Canberra Hospital has spoken out, saying current patient numbers are “unsafe” and “unsustainable”.
The Australian Medical Association recommends that hospitals run at an 85 per cent bed occupancy rate for efficient and safe practice.
But according to Canberra Hospital data, the facility has averaged about a 95 per cent capacity so far this year.
That is to the shame of the health minister and the shame of this government, who are always proud to be measured on their inputs. They will tell us how much they have spent, but they very rarely tell us what the outcome of that spending was. The article goes on to say:
But the hospital’s emergency department clinical director Dr Michael Hall said he sees dangers in running such high occupancy rates.
“Ninety-five per cent is unsafe ... once you reach above 90 the hospital is under stress, once you reach above 95 the hospital is seriously under stress,” he said.
This city has its major tertiary hospital under serious stress from the person who knows it best, the individual who runs the emergency department. The article goes on to say:
Dr Hall said when that happened, the pressure was felt back in the emergency department, in terms of waiting times to be seen and to get to a bed.
“So people will be cared for in a less than satisfactory environment,” he said …
“So it increases time in hospital, it increases costs, it increases complications and in fact it increases mortality.”
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