Autralian hospitals

[*kazumi*]

I heard on TV the other day that hospitals are gearing up for the pandemic and are not seeing people for selective surgeries etc.  I was in the next room, so I was not sure if I misunderstood, and have not been able to find more about it.  Anybody heard anything?  I suppose to see a surgeon about my knee operation in couple of weeks. 

I will try to call them on Monday, but it is not easy to get through in the best of times.

[martinw-48]

It's in the community now because we didn't shut down flights.
It's three months of stupidly hoping that we'd be right.
THREE MONTHS of doing very little.
Now we're paying the price.
There could be asymptomatic people walking around spreading it.
You can't get tested unless you've been overseas or have symptoms and have to have been in contact with someone that has been tested as having it
How stupid is that.

[chameleon54]

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@davidc4430 wrote:

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@chameleon54 wrote:

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@martinw-48 wrote:

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what the PM didnt tell us was where hes going to find thousands of trained doctors and nurses ect to staff these places.

do we have lots of unemployed doctors and nurses ect just waiting for a call?

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We have plenty of under employed doctors and nurses. My sister is a senior nurse who chooses to only work two days a week in her specialist field, but has extensive experience in emergency.  My GP only works around twenty hours per week as he is nearing retirement. There would be tens of thousands of other staff like these all around the country.

As mentioned the PM has called on all recently retired or permanently " on leave " medical staff to register on a central data base to be called upon should they be needed. He specifically mentioned staff who may have moved out of the medical profession for other life choices such as woman parenting kids. The government has also put in place measures to cancel all medical staff leave if required. Considering most medical staff have 4 - 6 weeks leave per year, this immediately increases staffing availability by 10%. Add in a much tighter and more demanding rostering system and you could very easily lift staffing by 30%-40%. More draconian measures could see higher levels achieved.

Farmers regularly work 16 hour shifts, seven days a week during seeding and harvest periods lasting 6 - 8 weeks ( similar to the peak of a pandemic ) without too many issues with fatigue etc. Much longer than that and fatigue DOES become an issue. At the peak of a pandemic, medical staff could be rostered extensively under a state of emergency, staffing the extra hospitals. Would they like it ? probably not, but in an extreme emergency, similar to war, the public would get behind and support them and it could it be done.

[davidc4430]

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@chameleon54 wrote:

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@davidc4430 wrote:

---

@chameleon54 wrote:

---

@martinw-48 wrote:

---

what the PM didnt tell us was where hes going to find thousands of trained doctors and nurses ect to staff these places.

do we have lots of unemployed doctors and nurses ect just waiting for a call?

---

We have plenty of under employed doctors and nurses. My sister is a senior nurse who chooses to only work two days a week in her specialist field, but has extensive experience in emergency.  My GP only works around twenty hours per week as he is nearing retirement. There would be tens of thousands of other staff like these all around the country.

As mentioned the PM has called on all recently retired or permanently " on leave " medical staff to register on a central data base to be called upon should they be needed. He specifically mentioned staff who may have moved out of the medical profession for other life choices such as woman parenting kids. The government has also put in place measures to cancel all medical staff leave if required. Considering most medical staff have 4 - 6 weeks leave per year, this immediately increases staffing availability by 10%. Add in a much tighter and more demanding rostering system and you could very easily lift staffing by 30%-40%. More draconian measures could see higher levels achieved.

Farmers regularly work 16 hour shifts, seven days a week during seeding and harvest periods lasting 6 - 8 weeks ( similar to the peak of a pandemic ) without too many issues with fatigue etc. Much longer than that and fatigue DOES become an issue. At the peak of a pandemic, medical staff could be rostered extensively under a state of emergency, staffing the extra hospitals. Would they like it ? probably not, but in an extreme emergency, similar to war, the public would get behind and support them and it could it be done.

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you making a lot of asumtions

that you know of a nuse who chooses to work 2 days a week so there must be plenty of them right?

who knows, it could be hardly any.

and then they cant be forced to work.

then there are the 'made the choice to take care of their kids'

so you expect women who have young children to go to work in an enviroment where they may catch a serious virus?

a lot of if and ands, i realise medical people will often put themselves at risk for others but to demand it?

not on sir!

[domino-710]

Under employed.............................what now.

The only 2 you mention are both in the very high risk category - ie getting on in years.

Most young interns/residents are all currently working 60-70 hour weeks - and not only during ' harvest ' time.

Bring on those 10's of thousands.

[eol-products]

There are plenty of nurses associated with aged care that would be available. Many aged care centres have been cutting back hours for staff so many would be under employed. 

[domino-710]

The numbers simply don’t add up when it comes to the current aged care nursing workforce, the Australian College of Nursing warned the Royal Commission in Melbourne yesterday.

“Our population is ageing. Today, 15 per cent of Australians are aged over 65. This is about one million more people than there were in 2001-02, yet the number of Registered and Enrolled Nurses in full time equivalent positions in residential aged care facilities (RACF) has fallen by 13 per cent since 2003,” Australian College of Nursing CEO, Adjunct Professor Kylie Ward FACN said.

Between 2003 and 2015, the number of residential aged care places increased by 30 per cent and dependency levels of residents rose from 64.4 per cent assessed as high care to 89 per cent.

“Aged care residents have complex and chronic conditions and deserve to be cared for by trained and licensed health professionals. Yet unregulated health care workers (UHCW) make up 70 per cent of the aged care workforce and the number of Registered Nurses working in aged care is decreasing,” Adjunct Professor Ward explained.

Dated 18th Oct 2019.

[myoclon1cjerk]

I don't know what Bill would have done, but I'm guessing it would have been better.

[freddie*rooster]

I think you will find the Aged Care 'nurses' are in fact not qualified

nurses instead are more in line with carers. From my personal

dealings in this area on a day to day shift in Nursing Homes you

would be lucky to have 1 or at a push 2 RN's.  

[rogespeed]

We do not enforce self-quarantine , we do not control who visit those in self-quarantine....  breaking quarantine is not even a criminal offense . 

As a nation i hope we remain fortunate 

[domino-710]

May not be criminal - but could prove expensive.

The most prominent breach reported so far was the case of a man in Tasmania who went to work at a hotel in Hobart the day after he was told to isolate.

It prompted Tasmanian Health Minister Sarah Courtney to declare the Government was considering stronger compliance measures to reduce the risk of people spreading the virus.

Under section 42 of Tasmania's public health act, the maximum fine is $8,400.

That is much less than in other states.

In New South Wales, the state Health Department confirmed breaching an order to isolate carried a maximum penalty of $11,000.

Unlike Tasmania however, the penalty in New South Wales could also involve six months' imprisonment.

In South Australia, the maximum penalty for failing to comply is $25,000.

In Western Australia, those ignoring a public health order face imprisonment of 12 months or a fine of $50,000.

A Queensland Health spokesperson told the ABC all notices issued so far requested affected persons to "voluntarily" isolate themselves but a "handful" of people had had to be reminded of the responsibilities they had agreed to.

"While everyone so far has been cooperative, we are taking this seriously," they said.