The residents of Australia's major cities are served by an excellent hospital system, but it is evident that this deteriorates sharply the further we venture into " the bush ". It is comforting to see signs proclaiming the presence of a " hospital " when we approach a country town, but what it offers in many cases is little more than a " first aid " station.
Many of these country hospitals lack the presence of a doctor. A parliamentary enquiry has just heard harrowing tales of lives being endangered by an overburdoned system plagued by chronic staff shortages.
Several submissions referred to the statistics of the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare which showed 91 avoidable deaths occurred for every 100,000 people in cities, compared with 248 avoidable deaths in country areas.
Instances brought to the notice of this enquiry include a 92 year old man sent away from a hospital with a broken neck and a Broken Hill man who was left undiagnosed for fifteen months when he awaited an " urgent " colonoscopy.
The enquiry was told that patients in regional hospitals turn up to emergency departments to find no doctors are physically present and have treatment by videolink. A woman illustrated this when she recounted how her son had been left with a deformity when a nurse at Cobar hospital had to apply a plaster to his broken hand while a doctor watched the procedure on videolink.
An anaesthetist from Lismore Base hospital described their shock at the " horrendous " work load of two junior nurses. It would take an Olympic effort to achieve clean, pain free, well fed and hydrated patients. It became obvious to this enquiry that nurses were being constantly expected to perform well above the level of the training adequate for their job status.
A spokesperson from the New South Wales government reported that an additional 8300 frontline staff were being recruited during this current government term and forty-five percent would be going to country areas,.
Perhaps one of the failings is the inability to move patients to where services can receive the level of treatment they need. We have a escalating level of hospital services served by a fleet of road ambulances and this is further supported by helicopter air ambulances to deliver extra speed when this is required.
It seems that service by videolink in intruding into putting the patient into the hands of treating doctors in place of use of these transport services. Patients in the country expect parity with their city cousins and it is obvious that this is not being provided in the present circumstances.
The enquiry was horrified to learn that in some instances, patients were asked to bring their own bandages. There may be more to come as this enquiry unravels the mysteries of " bush medicine " !
No comments:
Post a Comment