People urged to stay away unless it is an emergency

ABC NEWS (Australia)

Tasmania's nursing union claims the situation at the state's two main hospitals is the worst it’s ever been. Health officials have urged people to stay away from emergency departments as demand surges.

Transcript

00:00 The health department is urging Tasmanians to stay away from the emergency departments

00:07 at two of the state's biggest hospitals unless absolutely necessary due to significant demand.

00:14 The department says the Royal Hobart and Launceston General Hospitals are currently facing high

00:20 rates of unplanned staff absences, noting that COVID-19, the flu and other seasonal

00:27 illnesses continue to circulate in the community.

00:31 The department also said the ability to get patients off the wards and back home is challenging

00:37 and this includes an above average number of patients waiting for placement in aged

00:42 care facilities and NDIS patients waiting for assessments and approvals.

00:49 This morning Tasmania's nurses union says the current situation in the emergency departments

00:54 is the worst it's ever been.

00:57 Emily Shepard from the Nursing and Midwifery Federation said staff are doing everything

01:02 they can but are struggling to keep up with demand.

01:05 Our members are telling us both at the LGH and the Royal Hobart Hospital that the emergency

01:10 department situation and the environment in which they're working is the worst that they've

01:16 ever seen.

01:17 She says there's an increase in demand and presentations to emergency departments but

01:23 this surge and significant demand on the emergency departments is also a result of a lack of

01:29 health workers which she says is often not at the level it needs to be to be able to

01:34 provide care to patients.

01:36 The healthcare workforce is fatigued and exhausted and of course we also know that there's increased

01:43 demand and there has been increasing demand for many, many years so I think now what we're

01:47 seeing is the perfect storm.

01:49 The health department is assuring the community that the needs of emergency presentations

01:54 will be met and that elective surgeries are being managed despite the situation.

02:00 In the meantime Tasmanians are being encouraged to either contact Health Direct, to go to

02:05 an after hours clinic in Launceston and Hobart or to contact their GP.

02:11 [BLANK_AUDIO]

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