Unmasking the mirage !

In the New South Wales health system complying with government benchmarks is the difference between a promising and a failed career. The edict " Do more with less " applies - and Illawarra hospitals find themselves the poor relation to the Sydney hospital system.

It is therefore necessary to give full marks for innovation - and applying that criteria doctors at Shellharbour hospital must go to the top of the list at near genius rating.

Hospital emergency departments are judged on the time patients spend in their care. Seven hours is a critical time factor in which they should be treated - and either discharged - or moved to a bed within a ward of that hospital.

The problem arises when all beds are fully occupied - which is a normal occurrence in hospitals operating at one hundred percent capacity - against an ideal benchmark of eighty percent. There simply is no place to settle a patient in a ward bed when that magic seven hour deadline is approaching.

Innovative doctors at Shellharbour hospital solved that problem. They nominated four beds within the emergency department as a virtual ward - dedicated to the treatment of emergency department patients who required further treatment.

It solved all their problems. The patients continued to get care while waiting for a bed vacancy in the general wards. The hospital records showed that emergency patients were removed from that department within the stipulated seven hours - and by sleight of hand a major miracle was achieved ! Four beds appeared out of thin air !

Unfortunately the grim face of officialdom didn't see it that way. The hospital is facing an enquiry and there will probably be reprimands.

The doctors concerned should be given a medal and promoted. They did nothing to decrease patient care - but simply rearranged a few " definitions " to meet an impossible situation.

Of course it would be too much to expect that the Health department would recognise the lack of beds at that hospital and provide more to solve the problem. That's not the way the system works in this state !