Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital to get nurse-to-patient ratios, Minister dismisses ED ‘code yellow’ concerns

Nurse-to-patient ratios are about to be rolled out at Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital as the Health Minister dismisses concerns about rolling “code yellows” at its emergency department. Ratios were introduced at Perth Children’s Hospital ED last year and saw rostered staffing levels lift to one nurse for every three patients. On Sunday, Amber-Jade Sanderson said ratios of one nurse to every four patients would be implemented at SCGH in Nedlands — and the broader the North Metropolitan Health Service — from October 7. “Doing the major tertiary hospitals is the priority, and that general medical and surgical area, which are the areas that the Australian Nursing Federation and nursing staff have said to us that they want to see better workload management,” she told reporters. “It is what they’ve been asking for, for a couple of decades now. “I’m confident that this is going to be rolled out well.” Ms Sanderson made the comments while announcing that the long-awaited redevelopment of the hospital’s 54-bed ED will finally begin next year, costing around $50 million. She did not dispute claims by the WA Liberals that it had been in a continuous “code yellow” for more than five days this week but described that status as “a standard operating mechanism” across the State’s hospitals rather than an emergency. “In every different hospital, the requirements for code yellow are completely different,” Ms Sanderson said. “At some point, hospitals do reach peak demand. “It signals to their colleagues on the wards, ‘we need you to discharge those patients who are medically fit and safe to be discharged so that we can bring other patients safely through’.” But acting WA Liberal Leader Steve Martin said the code yellows were concerning and a sign the hospital was not coping, which was “completely unacceptable” in a wealthy State. “We are receiving information from those staff that they are desperately concerned at the safety of their patients,” he told reporters. Mr Martin was also critical of the ED upgrade, saying it was years overdue and more evidence of a State Government with “completely wrong” priorities. “Taxpayer-funded tickets to the zoo might sound okay, but people desperately need a health system that works,” he said. The Minister said record demand on WA’s health system continued — and the worst part of the flu season was still underway. “We’ve still got a pretty high viral load in the community and September is really still winter as far as the health system is concerned,” she said. “There’s two weeks of school holidays, so many of our staff take well-deserving leave and also have children to look after. “It has been busy. There’s no question about that. “But. . . we’ve managed well this winter.”