Surgeon shortage at RDH needs to be addressed quickly

Access to health services is a basic human right, and in Australia we are lucky to have that opportunity.

ACCESS to health services is a basic human right, and in Australia we are lucky to have that opportunity.

However, it’s concerning to learn Royal Darwin Hospital continues to struggle to attract and retain highly skilled staff.

In a hospital the size of RDH, the loss of six surgeons would be noticeable for the staff working there.

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The understaffing means our access to health services is affected and could mean longer wait times for surgery.

Our medical staff do a phenomenal job, there’s no denying that, but it’s concerning that RDH is struggling to attract highly skilled staff.

It not only means the staff who still work there are put under more pressure it also affects the services we have access to.

The Health Department says the loss has not affected the safe delivery of health care – but there must be a strain felt on the staff who front up to the hospital day in day out to care for sick and injured Territorians.

Having to fly interstate for treatment is necessary in some circumstances as we don’t have the population to sustain the need for some services, but residents of regional centres should not be forced to miss out.

The Health Department needs to sort out the staffing issues so we can continue to have access to appropriate and safe health care, otherwise we could see our population decrease as people flee to better staffed centres.

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