Code Yellow called at Royal Darwin Hospital after peak in bed demand

A Code Yellow has been called for Royal Darwin Hospital, with category two and three elective surgeries postponed to allow patients needing more urgent care to be admitted.

• Overworked ambos stuck in gridlock at RDH emergency dept

A CODE Yellow has been called for Royal Darwin Hospital amid a peak in bed demand.

A statement from the Department of Health revealed RDH has been at, or near, “Escalation Plan Level 4” for the past 10 days, despite efforts from all staff to improve patient flow through admission and discharge initiatives.

A Code Yellow “indicates an internal or infrastructure emergency, which can include peaks in bed flow or IT outages”. It enacts a number of practices to allow the hospital to manage the peak until pressure eases.

“Patient safety is a priority and the dedicated staff at RDH work hard to ensure Territorians continue to receive the best patient centred care possible in these periods of high demand,” the statement read.

“We urge people who have non-emergency health needs to see their GP as soon as they become sick to try to avoid becoming acutely unwell. This helps us care for those who most need a hospital bed.

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“We thank our hard working and dedicated staff and thank our community for supporting us during these peaks of demand, we appreciate their understanding and patience.

“Category two and three elective surgery have temporarily been postponed so that patients with more urgent care needs can be admitted to hospital. NT Health will contact impacted patients as soon as possible with a new surgery date. Emergency surgery will continue as normal. Specialist outpatient appointments continue as normal.”

Health Minister Natasha Fyles said the measure was necessary.

“We need to call this code yellow, so that we can put mechanisms in place to keep our patients safe,” she said.

“We’ll be at Code Yellow for the next few days … some surgeries are deferred and we put a focus on really getting that flow through of beds.”

In February a Code Yellow was called at the hospital following a bed shortage, with a photo showing at least eight emergency vehicles waiting to hand over patients at RDH.

Opposition health spokesman Bill Yan said the Code Yellow raised concerning questions.

“How will our health system cope if there is a Covid outbreak in the Territory during a Code Yellow?” he said.

“I acknowledge that the Department of Health this time issued a statement announcing the Code Yellow, which they promised to do during Estimates after failing to do so last time but instead of hiding behind the Department, the Minister should now stump up and explain what has happened and how it plans to manage these emergencies in the future?”

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