Palmerston Regional Hospital ‘needs to be repurposed’ ... but will our politicians be brave enough?

The NT government has always struggled to staff one hospital. How could it be expected to staff two? Now politicians need to be brave enough to repurpose the Palmerston Hospital, writes MATT CUNNINGHAM.

THE sound of inevitability has never rung clearer than last Thursday, when the NT News broke the story that the Emergency Department at the Palmerston Regional Hospital (PRH) would be scaled back.

It was the first necessary step in correcting a decision that has had a massive impact on the ability to properly operate hospital services in the Top End. Rather than reducing the burden on our hospital system, PRH has made things worse.

The NT government has always had difficulty staffing one hospital. How could it be expected to staff two?

The original plans for the PRH made sense. It was meant to be a tier-two facility that could complement Royal Darwin Hospital (RDH).

But politics soon took over.

An Emergency Department was added even though there is no intensive care unit.

Now anyone needing serious medical attention is transferred to Royal Darwin by CareFlight ambulance at a cost of at least $1.3m a year.

A maternity unit was also included but with no midwives to service it.

Criticism of the PRH is usually met with objections detailing stories of the fantastic facilities and wonderful treatment from the staff who work there.

This has never been in question.

But it’s those same staff whose jobs are being made more difficult by being spread across “two campuses of the one hospital”, as the spin doctors like to say.

Sixteen months after the PRH opened a journalist innocently inquired of Didier Palmer, the executive director of Royal Darwin and Palmerston hospitals, if it had relieved some of the pressure at RDH.

“No,” was the blunt reply. In fact it “created more demand”.

A Code Yellow was called twice in the month of September at the Royal Darwin Hospital.

When the hospital opened, the nearby GP Superclinic was soon forced to reduce its hours. Clients who probably just needed to see a GP were fronting up at the hospital emergency department instead.

Last month, during the first of September’s two Code Yellows at RDH, an emergency department doctor posted a story on social media about a 100-bed shortage at RDH.

“The ‘100-bed shortage’ has been known about for years,” they said.

“No increase in capacity.

“Staff leaving in droves.

“But they spent $250 million on a politically-motivated white elephant 20 minutes up the road.”

One of the few benefits of having such a woefully understaffed health system is that those who work there can drop the odd truth bomb without fear of the sack.

At a crisis meeting last month, some senior hospital staff argued the Palmerston ED needed to close.

An interim compromise was reached but even with part of the Palmerston ED offline, it’s still heaping pressure on RDH.

Serious consideration needs to be given to the repurposing of the Palmerston Regional Hospital.

There are several options that could be considered.

Part of the hospital could be converted into an aged-care facility, freeing up 50 beds at RDH that are being used for people who should be in nursing homes.

Perhaps another section could be transformed into a specialist mental health facility.

Or maybe it should just revert to its original intended use – a tier-two facility with no emergency department to take the pressure off RDH.

The politicians know the present situation is untenable.

But will they be brave enough to act?

■ Matt Cunningham is the Sky News Darwin Bureau chief and one of the Territory’s most respected news commentators.

Originally published as Palmerston Regional Hospital ‘needs to be repurposed’ ... but will our politicians be brave enough?