Mackay Base Hospital reveals plans to speed up emergency department
New statewide initiatives to speed up transfers from ambulance to emergency department and to bypass chronically ill children to the Kids Ward have launched in a major regional hospital.
Mackay
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Mackay Base Hospital has become a testing ground for new initiatives designed to streamline operations in the emergency department.
A three-bed transfer ward and a new position for a transfer initiative nurse is designed to reduce ambulance crews’ time taking patients into hospital from 30 minutes to about five or 10.
Alongside the new Rapid Access Clinic plan, allowing chronically ill kids to bypass the emergency department to the Kids Ward for specialised care, the changes hope to reduce pressure on the ED.
Both initiatives follow new data showing three in 10 patients waited half-an-hour to receive care as Mackay Base Hospital struggled with a 100 per cent bed occupancy rate.
“It definitely gives you a lot of peace of mind,’’ new mum Tahlia Ruhle said, whose four-week-old daughter Ellidy was born in MBH.
“ (Ellidy) lost a bit of weight after birth, so the midwives were concerned so they referred me to this program (Rapid Access Clinic).
“Hopefully (other parents) can know it is available to them (as) I feel like I’ve got lots of appointments to keep checking on her and make sure she’s all good.
“She’s doing really well.”
Paediatric registrar Dr Shaun Cousen said the Rapid Access Clinic had been running since February and was designed to check in on kids “before conditions present or worsen”.
“We’re trying to get in early before these issues become bigger and need further investigation and management,” Dr Cousen.
“There are some patients who have very complex multiple health conditions and we can see them sooner, we already know them well and have a lot of their background notes and things.
“So it makes it a lot easier for us than showing up to the emergency department where it might be a bit more difficult for them to work out what’s going on.”
As for the new ambulance transfer nurse position, director of emergency Dr Syed Khadri said “”in ED, it’s all about prioritisation and optimisation”.
“From July 1, we have seen 40,000 patients come into the emergency department … 12,000 of those (from Queensland Ambulance Service),” Dr Khadri said.
“This is an initiative that fits in with other initiatives in the hospital … just one initiative is not enough to make changes, but all of them as a group can make a mighty change.”
Mackay MP and assistant health Minister Julieanne Gilbert said the Mackay rollout would troubleshoot the statewide initiatives, which are “all about making sure that we modernise our medicine”.
“This is good for families, it’s great for parents (because) they’re talking to people who already know them,” Ms Gilbert said.
“This is a win-win for the staff here at the Mackay Base Hospital and also for those parents who are seeking help for their children.”
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