Royal Darwin and Palmerston hospitals declare fourth code yellow of 2023

Top End hospitals have declared another code yellow due to a bed shortage, after NT Health lost more than 600 workers over 12 months.

A fourth code yellow for Royal Darwin and Palmerston Hospital has been declared for 2023. Picture: Che Chorley

A spike in patient admissions to Royal Darwin and Palmerston hospitals has prompted the fourth code yellow of the year.

An NT Health spokesman said the hospitals had recorded a “steady increase” in patients over the past week.

The spokesman said elective surgeries had not been deferred and “surge management” plans were in place to reallocate resources to support the admission and discharge processes.

“A code yellow enacts a number of practices that allow the hospital to closely manage the situation and implement measures to ease pressures on the hospital system, while providing high quality safe care,” they said.

“Patient safety is a priority, and we thank our dedicated staff at RDPH for their hard work during these periods of high demand to ensure Territorians continue to receive the best patient-centred care possible.”

It comes as the Territory health service has lost 667 workers over 12 months, according to the Public Employment Commissioner.

In the latest quarterly report, commissioner Vicki Telfer said the Territory’s health services went from 8043 full-time equivalent health workers in March 2022 to 7376 in March this year.

Health Minister Natasha Fyles said 37 elective surgeries were cancelled during 46 days under Code Yellow at Royal Darwin Hospital. Picture: Pema Tamang Pakhrin

In responses to questions during Estimates, Health Minister Natasha Fyles revealed that the Royal Darwin and Palmerston hospitals had nine code yellows due to bed capacity issues in the 2022-23 financial year.

Ms Fyles said during the 46 days under Code Yellow, 37 elective surgeries were cancelled at RDH.

Ms Fyles said the department had spent $533,446 to buy bed services from Darwin Private Hospital during the code yellows.

The Health Minister also confirmed the Katherine hospital was also under a code yellow for a day and a half due to bed capacity issues while Gove District Hospital had three code yellows due to information technology breakdowns.

NT Health chief executive Marco Briceno told Estimates in June staff shortages across the health system were leading to more acute cases in hospitals.

“The staff shortages … particularly in primary healthcare in remote … certainly play a role in increasing demand into our hospitals,” Dr Briceno said.

“(It’s) away from the natural area where this activity should be occurring in primary healthcare.”

On Thursday, Opposition health spokesman Bill Yan said the nine code yellows in the 2022-23 financial year had come at a grave cost to Territorians.

Opposition health spokesman Bill Yan said the nine code yellows in the 2022-23 financial year had come at a grave cost to Territorians. Picture: (A)manda Parkinson

“This is absolutely not normal and it means Territorians are missing out on surgeries and taxpayers are paying more,” he said.

“They cannot provide the essential services Territorians need when they need them.”

The latest Productivity Commission data found the Territory had the second worst wait times for elective surgeries, with a third of patients waiting longer for than clinically recommended for their procedures.

A quarter of category one Territory patients waited longer than the recommended 30 day wait times and 40 per cent of category two patients met their 90 days deadline while 37 per cent of category three patients were left waiting for more than a year for their surgery.

Ms Fyles has been contacted for further comment.

Originally published as Royal Darwin and Palmerston hospitals declare fourth code yellow of 2023