Capacity Crisis at Royal Hobart Hospital

Questions have been raised about the crisis capacity of the emergency department at the Royal Hobart Hospital.

A gas leak in the Huon Valley put the emergency department under a rigorous stress test over the weekend.

In order to cope, other patients were referred to private hospital emergency departments while staff at the Royal Hospital Hobart worked on twenty patients.

Capacity crisis at RHH

The Australian Nurses and Midwifery Federation's Emily Shepherd says that every Tasmanian can make a change to ensure capacity levels remain manageable.

"All Tasmanian’s need to be considering if it’s appropriate to be at the emergency department of if there might be other service providers that they can access to receive the care and treatment that they need."

It comes as the Australian Medical Association's Tasmania branch called for a round table with the Secretary of the Department of Health to discuss issues plaguing the Royal Hobart Hospital.

The group says staff are exhausted, patients are having elective surgeries cancelled, and ambulances are being ramped.

Spokesperson Frank Nicklason says emergency department issues affect the entire hospital.

"All Tasmanian’s need to be considering if it’s appropriate to be at the emergency department of if there might be other service providers that they can access to receive the care and treatment that they need."

The Department of Critical Care Medicine at the RHH confirmed recruitment was currently underway for additional staff, which  includes a program to train more ICU nurses locally.

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