Launceston General Hospital registrars say patients have died unnecessary

Several of the state’s most senior doctors have pleaded with authorities for urgent action to improve standards at one of Tasmania’s major hospitals where “patients have died unnecessarily”.

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SEVERAL of the state’s most senior doctors have pleaded with authorities for urgent action to improve standards at one of Tasmania’s major hospitals where “patients have died unnecessarily”.

In a damning three-page letter to management, seen by the Mercury, registrars at Launceston General Hospital have slammed conditions at the facility labelling it “unsafe for patients”.

Issues raised in the letter, signed by more than a dozen doctors, include “the worst bed-block in the country”, low morale among staff, and “often” examining patients in corridors.

“Our patients have died unnecessarily, they have died because we did not have appropriate space to treat and monitor them,” the letter reads.

“A patient recently died in the waiting room under these circumstances. It is the general feeling among staff that if he had been in a monitored area his deterioration would have been noticed well before his death.”

Signage to the coronavirus assessment clinic set up in Launceston. Picture: PATRICK GEE

Doctors said little space available in the hospital’s emergency department meant, at times, patients could not have their loved ones by their side.

“At times the only place to tell patients bad news about their illnesses is next to an intoxicated patient who is yelling and aggressive,” the letter states.

“We want to provide excellent care to our community, we are compassionate, we always strive to be better. We can do this better, we need to be able to do this better, right now we can’t.”

The letter lists areas clinicians said “need to be urgently addressed” including having effective around-the-clock mental health services, the effective utilisation of available beds and a waiting room that allows for social distancing.

Labor member for Bass Michelle O’Byrne said the state government must address the concerns raised to prevent more unnecessary deaths.

“Many of the actions the doctors have called for to address problems at the LGH were agreed outcomes of the Access Solutions Meeting in June last year,” Ms O’Byrne said.

“Despite committing last October to roll out changes at the LGH to reduce bed block and improve patient flow, almost a year later and no changes have been implemented and the situation at the hospital has worsened.

“[Health Minister] Sarah Courtney needs to fix the chronic bed block and understaffing at the LGH before more patients die unnecessarily.”

Addressing a question from Ms O’Byrne in parliament today on why the LGH is “at its lowest ebb”, Ms Courtney said “many of the initiatives identified have had to be paused during COVID-19”.

“I am committed to the Access Solutions outcomes being implemented across the lGH and across our district sites because we know that it has been locally led,” she said.

“We are looking at how we can optimise the outcomes for the LGH, for that emergency department and most importantly for patients.”

Australian Medical Association President Helen McArdle said a whole of state strategy needed to be developed, involving general practice, to deliver care in the community and aged care facilities that “could take some elderly patients waiting for an aged care bed sooner”.

“This would thereby free up beds in our hospitals,” she said.