Canberra Hospital sets new daily record of emergency department presentations amid surging demand
On July 16, 356 people presented to the Canberra Hospital's emergency department, breaking the previous daily record set in late 2020. (Supplied: Canberra Health Services)
In short:
Health authorities confirm a new daily record number of presentations at the Canberra Hospital emergency department amid surging public system demand.
Paul Haines of the NSW Nurses and Midwives Association says patients from his state are unfairly adding to the ACT public health system's burden.
What's next?
Health Minister Rachel Stephen-Smith is calling for the NSW government to chip-in for hospital infrastructure in the ACT.
A record number of patients have visited Canberra's emergency rooms this winter, with expected total wait times pushing above nine hours at Canberra Hospital just last night.
The ACT Health app showed the total wait and treatment time at Canberra Hospital last night about 8pm was nine hours and 13 minutes, with 54 patients in line.
Dr Shakeeb Bani-Yaseen, the clinical director of Canberra Health Services' medical division, said wait times of that length were "definitely not normal".
"We haven't seen this number in a very, very long time," Dr Bani-Yaseen said.
However, he said the wait time was not as straightforward as it appeared.
"My understanding of those numbers is they do not reflect the wait time, they reflect the total time it takes to see a nurse, get triaged, see a doctor, have some blood tests, have the results, then get seen by the referral team," he said.
"It's a treatment time as opposed to the wait time.
"But nine hours is on the higher side — we rarely go to those numbers these days. It is way too long."
Dr Shakeeb Bani-Yaseen says a nine-hour wait and treatment time is way too long. (ABC News: Callum Flinn)
ER presentation record set in July
Dr Bani-Yaseen said July 16 marked the highest number of presentations to Canberra Hospital's emergency department on record.
"We saw 356 patients that day, which is a number we've not seen before," he said.
"Over the last six months, we've seen the highest numbers of presentations — we're averaging at about 320 patients per day over the seven days.
"The flu season has definitely played a major role in this."
Dr Shakeeb Bani-Yaseen of Canberra Health Services says a particularly bad flu season is partly responsible for record demand for emergency treatment. (ABC News: Tobias Hunt)
Flu season aside, Dr Bani-Yaseen said he'd witnessed a slow but significant increase in the number of patients relying on Canberra's public health system in the past few years.
"We see just under 1,000 patients between Canberra Hospital, North Canberra Hospital and the walk-in centres every 24 hours," Dr Bani-Yaseen said.
"I've been at Canberran Hospital on-and-off for the past 10 years and I remember in 2018 and 2019, 250 patients per day was a busy day.
"Now, we see 320 patients and we go, 'Today wasn't too bad'.
"That's due to there being a lot of complex medical issues and the increased population both in Canberra and the surrounding regions."
NSW patient referrals adding to ACT hospitals' surging demand
Paul Haines of the NSW Nursing and Midwifery Association says a number of NSW patients preferred to be treated in the ACT public health system. (ABC News: Callum Flinn)
Vice president of the NSW Nurses and Midwives Association Paul Haines said patients from his state were unfairly adding to the ACT public health system's burden.
"The truth is because the ACT government invests more heavily in health than the NSW government, the ACT's health services are better than the NSW health services," Mr Haines, who works at Yass Hospital, said.
"So, a lot of our patients actually like to go into the ACT health system because they know they're going to get a better service.
"And our doctors also prefer to send our patients into the ACT health system for the very same reason."
Paul Haines of the NSW Nurses and Midwives Association says the Goulburn Base Hospital often requests Yass Hospital refer its patients to Canberra. (Supplied: NSW government)
Mr Haines said that Goulburn Base Hospital redirecting patients into the ACT could also be adding to the problem.
"Unfortunately, we do find that Goulburn Hospital is very, very busy and often because they have such little capacity, they do provide us with more resistance than they should do," he said.
"So, Goulburn Hospital is a referral hospital for all of the smaller hospitals in the southern local health district but we're finding that because they're so busy, they often request that we refer our patients into Canberra.
"And there's actually no governance to say whether that's appropriate or not, but if we can't get our doctors at Goulburn to accept our patients, we don't have a choice."
Another challenge, according to Mr Haines, was returning NSW patients to their local hospital after their initial treatment in Canberra.
"The problem is that a lot of NSW hospitals are stuffed to the gunwales and don't have the capacity to actually take their patients back,"he said.
"What this does is put more pressure on the ACT health system, which obviously impacts the patients in the ACT that require those beds and those services."
Paul Haines of the NSW Nurses and Midwives Association says a number of NSW hospitals don't have the capacity to take their patients back from the ACT system. (ABC News: Callum Flinn)
In a statement, a spokesperson for NSW Health Minister Ryan Park said the Southern NSW Local Health District had local arrangements in place to enable inter-hospital transfers when required with the ACT.
"Transfer decisions are dependent on a number of factors, but the clinical situation and needs of the patient and their family are paramount," the spokesperson said.
"Patients are referred to the most appropriate health facility based on multiple considerations including the level of care required, the location of the patient and demand for services."
'We can't deliver services at that price': Health Minister
ACT Health Minister Rachel Stephen-Smith wouldn't go as far as to say Canberra's public health system was buckling under the burden of NSW patients, which make up 25 per cent of presentations on average.
Health Minister Rachel Stephen-Smith says the price the NSW government pays per patient the ACT health system treats is not enough. (ABC News: Matt Roberts)
She did, however, concede the price the NSW government paid per patient was insufficient.
"When NSW pays us to take their patients, they're paying us at the National Efficient Price and we can't deliver services at that price," she said.
"Like other small jurisdictions, we do face higher costs, where we have fixed costs that are spread across a smaller number of hospitals and patients.
"So, we've been arguing in the context of the National Health Reform Agreement negotiations, that small jurisdictions should get a premium on the National Efficient Price that reflects the higher costs that they have to pay."
Health Minister Rachel Stephen-Smith is calling for the NSW government to chip-in for hospital infrastructure in the ACT. (ABC News: Clarissa Thorpe)
The National Efficient Price is set annually by the Independent Health and Aged Care Pricing Authority, and is based on the average national cost of an average patient's visit to a public hospital.
Minister Stephen-Smith also said it was about time the NSW government chipped-in for hospital infrastructure in the ACT.
"We've delivered a new critical services building at Canberra Hospital — a $660 million project — and we're developing a more than $1 billion new Northside Hospital and NSW contributes nothing towards the capital costs of that infrastructure that serves the whole of southern NSW," she said.
"So, we would like capital costs to be included somehow in the contribution NSW makes."
Canberra Liberals Leader Leanne Castley says Health Minister Rachel Stephen-Smith needs a long-term strategy for the ACT's public health system. (ABC News: Greg Nelson)
Canberrans 'deserve nation-leading healthcare': Opposition leader
Canberra Liberals Leader Leanne Castley said she was quite disappointed to see the recent wait time figures.
"It is the middle of winter, [so] sure, we should expect a little bit of a surge," Ms Castley said.
"But nine hours is not acceptable in anyone's reality when you're in pain and need that clinical care."
"[Canberrans] deserve so much better. They deserve nation-leading healthcare."
She repeated calls for a royal commission into the ACT's public health system.
"None of the internal reviews or culture surveys and tweaks here and there seem to be making any difference on the ground for local Canberrans," Ms Castley said.
"And until we get in and have a look, take the lid off and have a look from the top down, I really do believe that we won't see much more change."
Canberra Liberals Leader Leanne Castley says a royal commission into the ACT's public health system is needed. (ABC News: Ian Cutmore)
She said the issue spoke to the ACT government's apparent lack of a long-term strategy for the public health sector.
"We're only going to grow, we're only going to get bigger, and we're only going to be having more people attend EDs,"Ms Castley said.
"Because of that the minister needs to have that long-term strategy in order to see Canberrans when they need to be seen."