The nurses’ union says the Launceston General Hospital emergency department became dangerously overcrowded overnight, with more than 70 patients crammed into the department.
The Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation (ANMF) said members called the union for help on Monday as they struggled with high patient demand and too few resources.
Of the more than 70 patients, 40 had not been allocated a bed and 28 were waiting to be admitted, the union said.
ANMF Tasmanian branch secretary Emily Shepherd said patients in the waiting room needed urgent beds, but there was no capacity to move them into the ED.
“When the ANMF attended the ED last night, there was only one resuscitation bay left in the entire department, with many patients in the waiting room needing an urgent bed but no capacity to move them into the actual ED and a bed space,” she said.
The union contacted senior management, who freed up six in-patient beds and arranged extra medical support to help with assessments and discharges.
Shepherd said the situation was a regular occurrence for staff at the LGH.
“It means constant juggling if a patient deteriorates and constant fear of a serious mass casualty not being able to be accommodated,” she said.
The union said it had repeatedly pushed the state government to back access and flow strategies inside hospitals and in the community, without success.
It wants 24/7 hospitals with diagnostic support, nurse-led discharge, a sub-acute facility and more community nursing, mental health, dementia and district hospital services.
Health Minister Bridget Archer acknowledged the health system was under pressure but said much of it came down to patients who could not be discharged.
Archer said nearly 100 patients across Tasmania were medically ready to leave hospital but had nowhere to go, while waiting for residential aged care or NDIS support.
“That is some three hospital wards across Tasmania,” she said.
“Of course, that has an impact in relation to access and flow to our hospitals and it’s why we continue to talk about that issue.”
“We’ll continue to work through those issues, but we will also continue to advocate to the federal government for support on these issues as well.”
Labor MLC Sarah Lovell criticised the state government for pursuing $700 million in efficiencies from the health budget.
She said the government had no plan for the health system as a whole.
“We haven’t seen a plan that takes into consideration access to primary care, urgent care centres, discharge processes, access to sub-acute facilities for patients who don’t need to be in hospital but at the moment there’s nowhere else for them to be,” she said.
“What we see from this government is band-aid solutions, election slogans – like banning ambulance ramping – that do nothing to deliver better healthcare.”
The ANMF will return to the Tasmanian Industrial Commission on Wednesday for a directions hearing on the state government’s transfer of care policy.
