Flu cases flood hospital ED

Geraldton Regional Hospital’s emergency department has been inundated during an “extremely busy” flu season amid reports emerging of ballooning ED wait times and elective surgery cancellations.

The growing number of patients presenting to the emergency department has been linked to the recent closure of the Panaceum Group’s after-hours GP clinic.

The group’s chief executive Richard Sykes said inadequate funding through the Federal Government’s Practice Incentive Payment Program (PiP) had resulted in the clinic shutting its doors in June.

“The feedback I’ve been getting is that the closure of that clinic has impacted on ED and some of our GPs that do surgeries at the hospital are saying more elective surgeries are being cancelled due to lack of room,” he said.

“Patient feedback we’ve received is that ED wait times are out to seven or eight hours in some cases.

“We were getting upwards of 10 patients a night through the clinic, so closing that has to see some impact fall on the emergency department.”

According to a WA Country Health Service spokesman, the hospital last week avoided a code yellow — referring to overcrowding and staffing emergencies — because it was “able to cope within its allocated resources” despite the extremely busy period.

State Health Minister John Day recently flagged upgrades to the hospital as a high priority to deal with the increasing number of patients presenting to the facility but has not committed to a timeline or a guarantee of funding.

In a statement, the minister said the hospital had been identified by WACHS as requiring redevelopment and planning was being progressed.

Meanwhile, after-hours funding is in a stalemate, with the PiP unable to subsidise regional clinics adequately, while Government agencies are prevented from replicating services already under the PiP’s care.

The Country WA Primary Health Network has contracted Geraldton Regional Aboriginal Medical Service and the Panaceum Group to provide after-hours services to aged care facilities and Aboriginal people for 12 months in a bid to cut down ED numbers.

The network’s general manager, Linda Richardson, said a new model to provide after-hours care would be established in Geraldton once figures from WACHS were received.

Mr Sykes said the Department of Health was trying to adopt a one-size-fits-all approach to health funding in regional areas. “The Department of Health has absolutely no clue about the intricacies of trying to deliver these services outside a metro area,” he said.