Royal Hobart Hospital at capacity, with ‘extraordinarily difficult position’ text sent to staff
The Royal Hobart Hospital is at capacity – with dozens of people waiting for beds – according to a bulk text sent to staff. LATEST >>
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A CAPACITY crisis has apparently yet again hit the Royal Hobart Hospital.
In a bulk text message sent on Friday morning to staff, a hospital director warns that “we are in an extraordinarily difficult position today”, with 29 people waiting for inpatient beds.
“The last two days we have admitted 55 more than we have discharged,” the text message, seen by the Mercury, reads.
“There are two patients waiting more than 24 hours for transfer to an IP (inpatient) bed in ED (emergency department) – one for surgery and one for medicine, with 29 patients total waiting for an IP bed.”
The text advises staff that as many discharges as possible needed to be arranged for Friday and the weekend, and that all elective admissions need to be reviewed.
But the hospital, when approached by the Mercury, appeared to water down suggestions of a crisis.
“Like any busy working hospital, the RHH has days where there are more admissions than discharges,” a hospital spokesman said.
“At the current time, the RHH is seeing high demand on its services, and escalation protocols are in place to help manage that demand.”
The spokesman said the hospital was committed to providing patients with the care they needed, providing them with treatment and discharge plans to ensure beds became available.
“Ensuring patients are discharged appropriately, once they have received the care they need, is a critical part of managing patient flow,” he said.
The hospital has frequently found itself encumbered by overloads, with headlines earlier this year revealing the emergency department being at capacity levels, with elective surgeries cancelled.
Concerns have been raised over the past few months about chronic shortages of staff and beds at the hospital, with claims overworked nurses were routinely working through double shifts of 18 hours.
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