Royal Hobart Hospital pushes ahead with hand bell protocol
UPDATED: The Royal Hobart Hospital will push ahead with plans to manage overcrowding by placing patients awaiting discharge in chairs and giving them hand bells to call for help.
Tasmania
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THE Royal Hobart Hospital will push ahead with plans to manage overcrowding by placing patients awaiting discharge in chairs throughout the facility armed with hand bells to call for help.
A memo sent to hospital staff this week reveals the RHH will stick to its controversial overcapacity protocol — first revealed in September — which is aimed at improving patient flow at particularly busy times.
Patients deemed clinically stable and awaiting discharge or transfer will be placed in chairs in areas including alcoves and empty rooms when the protocol is triggered.
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“As the protocol requires only one patient to be placed into an over capacity space at any one time and the patient is a confirmed discharge, it is unlikely that an overcapacity space will be occupied for extended periods of time,” the Tasmanian Health Service memo said.
“As the patients must be clinically stable and able to sit in a chair, there does not need to be direct observation and any care or treatment including toileting required should be able to be managed while maintaining patient safety, privacy and dignity.”
RHH executive clinical director Craig Quarmby said the procedure would ultimately lead to better patient outcomes because it would improve flow through the hospital.
“As part of the consultation process conducted around the overcapacity protocol, it was deemed important that all patients have access to a means of alerting staff should they need assistance, bearing in mind that these patients are awaiting discharge from hospital,” he said.
“The protocol is strongly supported by emergency medicine physicians and senior hospital leadership, and the principle has been publicly supported by both the Australasian College of Emergency Medicine and the AMA.”
But Health and Community Sector Union state secretary Tim Jacobson said he was “exasperated” by what he described as government inaction in addressing Tasmania’s health crisis.
“I think the thing that underlines this particular approach is we’ve had a government saying the system is getting better and they are on the way to resolving the issues, but clearly reissuing this memo shows the circumstances right now are just as dire — if not worse — than they were when this memo was issued some time ago,” Mr Jacobson said.
Opposition health spokeswoman Sarah Lovell agreed: “There’s not a quick and easy solution but the best approach is probably not putting people in cupboards with bells.”
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A government spokeswoman said the decision was initiated by RHH clinical leadership.
“While over-capacity protocols are used safely and effectively in other jurisdictions, the Government does not believe this is a silver bullet by any means and will continue to work on longer term solutions for managing increasing demand for acute health services, including at the access solutions meeting to be held in June,” she said.
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