RDH bed demand peaks in late May months after ‘code yellow’ called

A VIDEO of vehicles backed up waiting to admit patients into emergency at RDH has revealed the hospital experienced a peak in bed demand.

• Overworked ambos stuck in gridlock at RDH emergency dept

A VIDEO of emergency vehicles backed up waiting to admit patients at Royal Darwin Hospital has revealed the hospital experienced a peak in bed demand months after a code yellow for shortages was called.

A video posted to the RED ALERT Northern Territory Facebook page, stated to have been filmed on Friday, May 21 at 4.14pm, shows at least 10 St John NT emergency vehicles, including ambulances and patient transport cars, at RDH’s emergency department waiting to admit patients.

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An NT Health spokeswoman said a peak in bed demand was recorded at the time of the video.

“Sustained presentations on Friday evening contributed to peak bed demand over the weekend,” she said.

“Royal Darwin Hospital has an extremely busy Emergency Department, and experienced a peak in bed demand over the weekend. This situation is actively being managed with plans in place.”

In February a code yellow signalling a lack of beds was called at RDH, following the release of a picture showing ambulances similarly backlogged at the hospital.

Text accompanying the video also expressed concerns of a lack of ambulance resources in the Territory.

“All ambulance resources except one, parked up at RDH,” it read. While St John NT would not comment on the video due to it not being reliably time-stamped, Ambulance Services director Andrew Thomas said: “The unpredictable nature of emergency work could mean that crews are at the hospital when they are required to respond,” he said.

“We work to release and respond crews as quickly as possible and have systems in place to manage the workload.”