Doctors warn Australia’s health system is collapsing under Covid impacts

Words: Natasha Robinson Producer: Louise Starkey

Australia’s hospital system is buckling under the strain of Covid-19.

Doctors are warning the health system is overburdened by patients with the infectious disease, to the point where others with treatable conditions are dying as they are unable to access hospital beds.

Top health officials from four states outlined the caution in a discussion paper drawn up and recently presented to an urgent roundtable of health ministers.

The paper warned routine care and other low-priority conditions could develop into life-threatening emergencies, with treatment being deferred.

The government should consider ­deploying GPs to hospital emergency departments to tackle workforce shortages, health officials said.

Thousands of patients should also be transferred home for treatment to take pressure off hospitals, and the government should embark on an urgent immigration program to boost doctor numbers.

Health officials called for the federal government to fund GPs to operate after hours and on weekends to address the indirect impacts of Covid-19 on the hospital system.

Hospitals are also dealing with packed emergency departments, ambulance ramping, staff burnout and the diversion of workers to testing and jab centres.

Pressures on the system have been worsened by a critical lack of support in the community for elderly and disabled patients, who cannot be discharged and spend up to a year in hospital.

NSW Health Minister Brad Hazzard said much more than an ICU surge plan was required to make sure hospitals did not collapse as case numbers rise.

Australian College of Emergency Medicine president John Bonning said the number of patients waiting many hours or even two days in emergency departments was increasing.

Dr Bonning said doctors were struggling to admit even urgent heart attack sufferers to wards as beds were co-opted for Covid-19 patients.

The performance of non-urgent elective surgery is currently suspended in NSW and Victoria, with the suspensions likely to be ongoing for months.