Regis Aged Care to accept 21 patients from RDH and Palmerston Hospital as bed shortage continues

Aged care patients at RDH and Palmerston Regional Hospital will begin to transition to Regis Aged Care, in a bid to curb the shortage of hospital beds and provide more specialised care.

AGED care patients at Royal Darwin and Palmerston Regional hospitals will begin to transition to Regis Aged Care, in a bid to curb the shortage of hospital beds and provide more specialised care.

From Tuesday, two aged care residents at the hospitals will move to the aged care facility and a further two aged care residents will be transferred on a weekly basis until all allocated beds are filled.

An NT government spokesman said a total of 21 aged care patients would be transferred out of the hospital system and into the aged care facility before Christmas.

The spokesman said the 21 beds had been allocated to NT Health from Regis Aged Care.

Patients in NT hospitals will be transferred to an aged care facility. Picture: Renae Droop

The spokesman said NT Health would provide further staff to the aged care facility to manage the transition.

Health Minister Natasha Fyles said the NT government was working with the federal government to ease capacity pressures at Royal Darwin and Palmerston Regional hospitals and get more aged care facility beds online.

“We now have confirmation that Regis Aged Care will accept 21 aged care patients from Royal Darwin and Palmerston Hospital,” she said.

The Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation NT branch secretary Cath Hatcher on Monday suggested the government buy and convert homes to use for aged and disability care as an additional short-term measure to take pressure off the Top End hospital system while a new 60-bed aged care facility is built in the NT.

Originally published as Regis Aged Care to accept 21 patients from RDH and Palmerston Hospital as bed shortage continues