The Victoria Minister of Health admits that she is concerned that two vulnerable patients were forced to wait for hours in a makeshift tent outside the emergency room of a major hospital this week.
Mary-Anne Thomas acknowledged the “discomfort” felt by a young cancer patient and an elderly stroke patient at Box Hill Hospital as the state health system continues to buckle under pressure.
“I was worried about what I had heard at Box Hill Hospital, so I asked about two specific incidents,” Ms. Thomas said Sunday.
“Once again, I want to acknowledge the discomfort both patients have felt in the hospital at this time. But I am happy with the responses I received that patients were receiving adequate care even though there was some discomfort they felt. “
He added that all patients in the state are assessed based on the acuity of their condition at the time and are being cared for appropriately.
It comes after an 18-year-old named William, who recently completed six months of chemotherapy for Hodgkin’s lymphoma, was forced to wait 27 hours in a hallway for a bed at Box Hill Hospital last week.
In a separate incident, an 83-year-old resident of a nursing home was forced to wait in a hallway for three hours before being “transferred” to a makeshift tent outside, where she spent 16 hours overtime.
State emergency services are the busiest they have ever been, with presentations hitting a record 486,701 in the last quarter, up 5.1% from the previous quarter.
On Sunday, Prime Minister Dan Andrews announced that five new GP-led priority primary care centers would be created to help ease the pressure on hospitals.
The $ 14.3 million project means that every center near major hospitals provides alternative care pathways for non-emergency patients.
“This will reduce the demand in our emergency departments, ensuring that those in need of urgent care can get it faster and avoid an unnecessary trip to the emergency room,” Andrews said.
“The global pandemic has put the country’s health systems under unprecedented pressure and this is part of our global plan to provide the care Victorians need, when they need it, close to home.”
The centers will be located near Royal Melbourne Hospital, Northern Hospital Epping, Sunshine Hospital, Monash Medical Center Clayton and Grampians Health Ballarat.