Patients facing nine-hour wait times at Melbourne’s Royal Children’s Hospital

Daniel Andrews has weighed in on the Royal Children’s Hospital’s waitlist crisis and apologised “to any family who has been let down by a system that is under incredible strain”.

The Royal Children's Hospital in Melbourne is struggling with an influx of patients. Picture: Andrew Henshaw

Premier Daniel Andrews says he apologises to every family that has been let down by Victoria’s besieged health system.

The Premier made the admission following revelations that the Royal Children’s Hospital’s emergency department waitlist crisis would continue until at least the end of winter.

Asked if it is ever acceptable for a sick child to be waiting nine hours for emergency treatment, Mr Andrews said: “I want everyone to get the care they need as fast as possible”.

“That’s why the staff, with unquestioned support from our government, are doing their level best,” he said.

“Obviously as a parent, two of our three kids have been patients at the Royal Children’s Hospital. I know first hand that the staff there do an amazing job. They work incredibly hard.

“There’s absolutely no denying that there’s very significant pressure there.

“Of course we apologise to any family who has been let down by a system that is under incredible strain, incredible stress.”

Daniel Andrews issued the apology on Wednesday. Picture: David Crosling

Hospital numbers will continue to rise

A top doctor has warned the waiting time crisis at the Royal Children’s Hospital’s emergency department will continue until at least the end of winter after sick kids queued for up to almost nine hours for treatment on Monday night.

The hospital was forced to implement disaster preparation protocols as demand exceeded capacity, with a doctor of 30 years saying he had never seen an emergency department under so much strain.

It follows months of extremely high demand at the hospital with Australian Medical Association Victoria president Dr Roderick McRae warning hospital numbers will continue to rise for two to three weeks following the Covid and influenza peaks.

He said Monday was an “ominous sign”.

Exclusive data obtained by the Herald Sun has revealed the waves of patients that continued to overrun the hospital, with demand refusing to let up on Monday.

At 9am, the number of patients was five times the typical August average for that hour, while the peak — between 6pm and 7pm when 36 patients arrived — was more than double the average.

Kylie Latu said she waited about four hours for her “floppy, lethargic” daughter, Emmi, to be treated by a doctor. Picture: Tony Gough

Up to 30 families had to queue outside and staff were called in on their days off as the hospital’s critical care chief Dr Stuart Lewena warned Monday was just an extreme example of “what’s been happening for months”.

He said 300 presentations was considered “very busy” pre-Covid, but they have now averaged more than 300 patients every day for the past three months.

“It’s been sustained, really high demand for months and (Monday) night was another jump ahead of that.

“370 patients through the department yesterday and six-hour periods where every couple of minutes another child was coming through the department either on an ambulance trolley or coming in our front door.”

He said while they had had brief periods of 8.5 hour waits before, Monday night was unprecedented and the worst he had ever seen.

“We’ve never had that duration of wait for a sustained period of time,” he said.

“My colleague who’s been doing this for 30 years … his comment this morning was that he has never seen the system under so much strain as we were last night.”

Patients face close to a nine-hour wait at the Royal Children’s Hospital.

He said they sent out clinicians to triage patients in advance when the queue began to stretch outside to Flemington Rd to ensure no urgent cases were missed.

“It’s not safe having a very unwell child standing in a queue, waiting to be triaged,” he said. “A side effect of that, unfortunately, is those children with less urgent problems were waiting a very long time.

“It’s really challenging to suggest to people they need to be going elsewhere because the entire system is under strain.”

The situation had improved by Tuesday morning, but the hospital’s emergency department tracker was still set to ‘extremely busy’ – the highest setting – on Tuesday evening.

Dr McRae said the situation was a reflection of an overwhelmed public hospital system and urged people to wear masks.

A Health Department spokesman said Covid and influenza had placed pressure on emergency departments.

“We’re providing health services with the support they need,” he said.

PARENTS’ PAINFUL WAIT

A distraught mother says she worried her nine-month-old baby would need to be critically ill before she could be seen at the Royal Children’s Hospital on Monday night.

Kylie Latu said she waited about four hours for her “floppy, lethargic” daughter, Emmi, to be treated by a doctor, as staff faced unprecedented demand.

“What I know about babies is they can very quickly go downhill,” she said.

“I was worried about if I was going to be there all night, was she going to have to become critically ill to get into the next phase, to get a drip. She was vomiting and not keeping down food fluids.

“She was lethargic and pale and I was worried about dehydration.”

Ms Latu said she was “torn” between worrying about her daughter and all the other children around her.

Kylie Latu said she felt sorry for nurses and staff trying to cope with the demands. Picture: Tony Gough

“When I got there and I couldn’t get in the doors … that heightened it (my anxiety). There were at least 20 to 30 people waiting for triage and probably the same amount in the main waiting room at any one time.

“The waiting time was between eight to 10 hours for most of the time I was there.

“I didn’t wait as long because I was prioritised with an unwell baby but some of the less sick and older children were likely waiting longer to be seen.”

Ms Latu said she was told by a nurse that it was one of the busiest nights the hospital had experienced in a long time.

“It was hard seeing nurses having to manage such large numbers of people, seeing the reception staff under the pump and security staff helping as best they could with stressed parents,” she said.

“The viruses and Covid has put immense strain on the healthcare system.”

Calls to respond to health ‘crisis’

Melbourne dad Franco Trimboli took his daughter to Royal Children’s Hospital on Monday at 5pm and said after waiting four hours, they were told it would be another eight.

“Unfortunately, the doctors and nurses were struggling to address the influx of patients,” he said.

“At approximately 8.30pm, one of the senior doctors made an announcement that the ED has reached capacity, with over 20 children still waiting to be triaged outside.”

He said this same doctor said it was the worst emergency department situation he had seen in 20 years.

“He offered to safely assess and discharge any children whose condition may have improved since their admission, to free up space for more seriously ill children,” he said.

He said by this stage his daughter was feeling better, and she was discharged soon after.

“The doctors and nurses were both professional and courteous, and did their best to safely assess all children.

“It’s unfortunate for both them and their young patients that the system last night was under significant pressure.”

He said his daughter was thankfully better today, and called on Premier Daniel Andrews and chief health officer Brett Sutton to respond to this “escalating health crisis” in our hospitals.

It marks the second time in less than two weeks that the hospital has been forced to warn of lengthy waits.

Families faced waiting times of up to more than six hours at the Royal Children’s Hospital on Sunday July 24 and Monday July 25 as the emergency department faced “extremely” high patient numbers.

It comes after the Herald Sun revealed last month that the hospital was one of several to delay elective surgeries.

A Royal Children’s Hospital spokeswoman told the Herald Sun then that levels of demand, high acuity patients and staff illness were all increasing, affecting wait times and some planned surgeries.

“Unfortunately, due to these impacts, some patients will have their surgeries deferred and we sincerely regret having to make these decisions,” she said.

“We always prioritise patients with the most critical need.”