Michelle Daw, Yorke Peninsula Country Times

The worst of winter ills is yet to come, along with further pain in our hospitals as staff struggle to cope.

That’s the warning from groups representing doctors and nurses, as the Code Yellow crisis in public hospitals drags on.

SA Health declared a statewide Code Yellow at the end of May, as it struggled to cope with Covid-19 and flu cases and the number of staff off sick.

Almost all elective surgeries in metropolitan and regional public hospitals were put on hold, including those on Yorke Peninsula.

In a statement issued today (Tuesday, June 25), Yorke and Northern Local Health Network chief executive Roger Kirchner said the Code Yellow was still in place across the state, but surgical services had returned to normal within YNLHN.

“Rescheduling patient surgeries in a timely manner has been our highest priority, and we continue to monitor demand across all sites in YNLHN,” he said.

“We look forward to serving our local communities, ensuring residents of the Yorke and Mid North region continue to receive first class health care, close to home.”

Australian Medical Association South Australia president Dr John Williams said he was concerned about the enduring impact on patients, as frontline doctors “played catch-up” to clear the Code Yellow backlog before an even bigger wave of winter illness.

“There’s no let-up to the crisis in our public hospitals, despite the Health Minister’s assurance that 90 per cent of Code Yellow restrictions have been lifted,” he said.

“The reality is, the system has never recovered from Covid, and now we’re dealing with surging viral infections on top of that.”

Dr Williams said SA doctors and GPs at almost every level were “drowning” under the workload.

“Sadly, it’s the patients who are suffering as a result, facing delays to urgent essential treatment and barriers to accessing mental health care,” he said.

“We’re only at the beginning of winter.

“There remains a very real concern that viral infections will continue to surge in the months ahead, heaping more pressure on a system that already can’t cope.”

South Australian Salaried Medical Officers Association chief industrial officer Bernadette Mulholland said she did not understand why the Code Yellow and suspension of elective surgery had been applied in a blanket fashion to regional hospitals in the first place.

“It’s never been explained to us,” she said.

“We would have through the regional LHNs were best placed to make decisions about whether they were able to proceed with planned surgeries or not, rather than a blanket directive.”

SASMOA has joined the Australian Nursing and Midwifery Foundation in calling for an overhaul of workforce planning for regional hospitals.

“Unfortunately, this is something that SA Health, the LHNs and governments have not done for a decade,” Ms Mulholland said.

“There must be a robust methodology to determine the number of medical staff needed, rather than using a ‘fingers crossed’ approach to the medical workforce.”

ANMF SA chief executive Adjunct Associate Professor Elizabeth Dabars said responsibility for health and hospital care was split between state and federal governments and between SA Health and LHNs.

“Both LHNs and the department assert it is the other’s responsibility to ensure that an appropriate number of the relevant workforce is available to meet the needs of our community,” Ms Dabars said.

She welcomed recent State Government initiatives, including opening urgent care centres in Adelaide and creating extra nurse practitioner roles, but said the health system was still under stress.

“The recent decision to implement a system-wide Code Yellow is a measure of the fragility of our state’s hospitals as we enter into a period of anticipated peak demand created by respiratory illnesses and Covid,” she said.

“There is the need for the State Government to act urgently to better support the workforce in the face of demand that outstrips the level of available capacity.”

Simulated lab for health training

Health workers on Yorke Peninsula will have access to training and development at a new clinical training laboratory to be developed at Port Pirie Hospital.

Health Minister Chris Picton said the laboratory would be part of a new Multi Profession Simulated Training and Development Service as part of an $8.6 million investment in the hospital in the State Budget.

“The service will provide a local environment for medical, nursing, allied health clinicians and other clinical students to undertake simulated learning whilst on placement at Port Pirie Hospital,” he said.

“It will also support the ongoing education and development of existing staff in the Yorke and Northern Local Health Network and broader community.

YNLHN chief executive Roger Kirchner said the laboratory would provide all YNLHN staff with the most up-to-date resources to further develop their skills and knowledge and create opportunities to work with universities on training programs for students.

This article appeared in the Yorke Peninsula Country Times, 25 June 2024.