Ballarat hospital calls code yellow amid rising demand

Ballarat Base Hospital has become the second regional hospital to declare an internal emergency in one week. Find out why.

Another regional hospital has declared an internal emergency and warned they may reintroduce visitor restrictions as they struggle to keep up with an increasing workload.

Ballarat Base Hospital called a code yellow on Sunday – at least their second this year – just days after acting chief executive officer Ben Kelly told a press conference an increase in the severity of patients’ illness was placing them under pressure.

They experienced a “significant increased need for emergency care”, Covid and influenza patients over the weekend, a Ballarat Health Services press release stated.

“The Code Yellow means we will focus staffing on the most urgent areas of care and service delivery,” the statement read.

“We will still be able to maintain care for those who need it and for our existing patients.

“If you are unwell, we advise discussion with your GP as soon as possible in order to avoid the need to attend the hospital emergency department.”

An increasing number of health services have activated the emergency alert this year amid staff shortages, increasing demand and Covid and influenza cases, with Albury Wodonga Health sounding the alarm last week.

They called a code yellow for the third time this year, citing pressure with Covid, influenza and demands on beds.

The cross-border service stood down the code yellow on Friday.

Ballarat Base Hospital has called a code yellow. Photo: Chloe Smith

Interim chief executive Janet Chapman said last Wednesday the internal emergency allowed them to redirect staff and defer care.

“(It’s) been prompted by not just increasing demand … but increasing acuity,” she said.

“Which means that (patients) … need to stay in that bed for really quite a long time.”

Grampians Health acting chief executive officer Ben Kelly told a press conference that same week they were also struggling with an increase in the length of patients’ stay.

“The level of acuity that our patients are coming in with (is) leading to them staying longer in hospital,” he said.

“Places in which they’d be discharged to are not as readily as available as they have been in the past as a result of the illnesses moving around in our community.”

Both hospitals said elective surgery was still going ahead, but admitted delays were a possibility with Mr Kelly saying wait times were “longer than we would like”.

A Victorian Government spokeswomen said emergency departments will be expanded and up to 7,000 healthcare workers recruited under the pandemic repair plan.

“Our healthcare system has been under an unprecedented amount of pressure due to the ongoing impact of the COVID-19 pandemic but we’re investing billions to get it back on track as quickly as possible,” she said.

“We’ve also invested $1.5 billion to increase surgical activity beyond pre-pandemic levels by providing 40,000 extra surgeries in the next year – reducing the waitlist and building up to a record 240,000 surgeries annually in 2024.”

MELBOURNE’S INTENSIVE CARE AMBULANCE SHORTAGE REVEALED

More than half of Melbourne’s intensive care ambulances were reportedly out of action on Wednesday night due to staff shortages.

The paramedics’ union has warned the shortages are putting patients’ lives are at risk.

Mobile Intensive Care Ambulances (MICA) paramedics have specialised training for the most serious medical cases – such as cardiac arrest – and can administer some treatments and perform interventions advanced life support paramedics are not permitted to.

Victorian Ambulance Union general secretary Danny Hill said members reported 10 out of 17 MICA ambulances in Melbourne were unavailable last night, plus another in Bendigo.

“It’s a serious and disturbing trend, but last night was the worst we’ve seen,” he said.

“Ambulance Victoria would have tried to fill those shifts, but the bucket is empty.

“We rely on paramedics coming in on overtime to fill a lot of those shifts.”

Victorian Ambulance general secretary Danny Hill Danny Hill said members reported 10 out of 17 MICA ambulances in Melbourne were unavailable last night. Picture: James Ross

He said an ALS (advanced life support) crew requested MICA backup for a 58-year-old lady having a heart attack in Yan Yean, but there weren’t any available crews nearby.

“The crew arrived at the Northern Hospital before the MICA paramedics because the MICA ambulance was so far away and had to come from Melbourne,” he said.

Thankfully the patient was okay, but he warned this may not always be the case.

He said the shortages were spread across Melbourne, but the western suburbs were the hardest hit.

“Metro west only had one resource,” he said.

“That’s a huge area with only one MICA resource.”

The Herald Sun understands about 150 ambulance staff are currently unable to work because they are sick, isolating with Covid or symptomatic.

Mr Hill said the issue was exacerbated by poor triage decisions, and MICA paramedics were too often deployed to non-urgent situations.

“It’s a little bit like having the SWAT team doing traffic control,” he said.

“The shifts are dropped and MICA paramedics are tied up with lower acuity cases.”

MICA paramedics lighting up. Source: Twitter/Ambulance Victoria

“If MICA care is not available (for high acuity cases), then yes the patients’ life is put at risk.

“It’s enormously stressful for the other crews who call for MICA back up, they don’t do that lightly but these patients need a higher skill set.”

An Ambulance Victoria spokeswoman did not say how many units were offline, but confirmed there were shortages.

“We can confirm that several Melbourne MICA paramedics were unexpectedly furloughed yesterday due to unforeseen circumstances, including illness as Covid-19 continues to have a significant impact on the entire health system,” she said.

“Our whole-of-system approach allows us to distribute ambulance resources across the state to ensure emergency coverage is maintained and patients cared for.

“We remain very busy and remind the community to help us by saving triple-0 (000) for emergencies.”

Ambulance Victoria is in the process of recruiting more intensive care paramedics.

A Victorian Government spokeswoman said their $12 billion pandemic repair plan includes funding for more emergency call takers and “more paramedics on the road”.