Bendigo hospitals enter ‘code brown’ to deal with ‘vast number’ of Covid patients

Bendigo’s health boss says his hospital has been on ‘code brown’ standby since the pandemic begun. He explains the detail here.

Bendigo Health emergency department at the hospital on Barnard St.

Hospitals in Bendigo will implement emergency measures to deal with a lack of staff and high Covid demand under a ‘code brown’ announced by the Victorian Government.

Bendigo Health CEO Peter Faulkner said Bendigo Health had been “in code brown standby” since the Covid pandemic began.

He said Tuesday’s declaration would improve coordination throughout the state’s health industry.

“We, like other health services across the State, are experiencing increasing Covid-19 presentations and staff shortages due to Covid-related furlough requirements,” Mr Faulkner said.

“We have recruited significant numbers of new staff, have extensive training programs in place to upskill staff and are redeploying staff to areas of highest clinical need.

“Where required we are using alternate clinical resources such as allied health.

“The code brown will allow stronger collaboration between regional and metropolitan health services to respond to peak demand.”

Bendigo Health chief executive officer Peter Faulkner.

Government guidelines say that ‘code browns’ are used to “plan, prepare, respond, and recover from an external emergency” and are called by a health organisation “when additional capability and capacity needs to be mobilised … to receive an influx of patients”.

They say that each health service is required to have its own ‘code brown’ plan and is expected to tell the Department of Health when the relevant triggers are reached, however, the department can request that health services trigger their plans if a “major impact” or “severe impact” threat becomes known.

As well as metropolitan Melbourne, the code announced on Tuesday will apply to Barwon Health, Grampians Health, Bendigo Health, Goulburn Valley Health, Albury Wodonga Health, and Latrobe Regional Hospital, where changes will need to be put in place by midday on Wednesday.

Deputy Premier James Merlino said a “formal emergency management structure” was needed because of workforce shortages and the “vast number of coronavirus patients requiring hospitalisation, and ongoing treatment for patients with urgent and emergency needs”.

Alterations at hospitals may include doing some medical work outside, removing patients from ambulances faster, or shifting staff to areas of higher priority.

The code is expected to last four to six weeks.

Bendigo Health has been contacted for comment.