LETTER
The Alice Springs Hospital community is celebrating the first anniversary of the new Emergency Department, which has cut waiting times for patients and created an efficient working environment for staff.
The Emergency Department has recorded more than 43,000 attendances since the Country Liberals Government built the larger facility in mid-June last year.
This is over 3000 more patients than the older facility was able to treat in the previous 12 months.
The new $25 million Emergency Department has 18 treatment bays, and has employed more staff, with 76 nurses and eight ward clerks now working in the ED.
Waiting times are already showing a great improvement, with category 2 cases (within 10 mins) at a high of 73%, category 3 (within 30 mins) at 76% and category 4 (within 60 mins) at 75%.
The ED not only meets capacity but enhances care through its culturally appropriate design.
It has been equipped with state of the art technology and hospital staff say they feel in control, and that they have the room and facilities to treat patients in a personalised manner.
This is a far cry from the previous ED where crowding made treatment difficult.
The new ED has had a very busy time as a result of a number of emergencies arising from the recent Finke Desert Race.
Staff who were rostered on said that while there was pressure and it was busy, there was also a sense of calm and purpose that all staff felt in dealing with the various presentations.
The Country Liberals Government has committed an extra $160,000 to the ED in 2014, bringing the total additional funding of the ED to $5.7 million in 2014-15.
Robyn Lambley
Minister for Health
Tuesday, April 23, 2024
The freedom of the press still furnishes that check upon government which no constitution has ever been able to provide – Chicago Tribune.
I must admit to having been greatly impressed with the Emergency Department when I attended with my grandson recently: the open space, nice seating, television, culturally appropriate dot paintings, and a lovely nurse to deal with triage.
The only problem we had was finding our way out of the maze once we had entered its depths, but it sure as hell is a vast improvement on the previous building. The staff, although probably still worked to death, must at least be happy to come to work these days.