What is it with lockdown-addicted socialists and collapsing hospital systems? It may be cold comfort to BFD readers to know that Jacinda Ardern is not the only leader presiding over a snowballing hospital disaster. Three guesses who’s racing her to the bottom…
Doctors have warned patients have been deteriorating in new “holding areas” for ambulance patients queued outside Victoria’s hospitals, as an account of a woman in her eighties being treated in a tent outside Box Hill Hospital overnight puts a spotlight on extreme emergency department overcrowding.
By “holding areas”, they mean “tents in the carpark”.
The Age has seen memo reportedly sent to emergency department directors across the state describing a plan to set up spaces, in some cases outside, for up to 10 patients for whom there is no emergency cubicle available […]
The memo said the holding areas would be for patients who require treatment within a timeframe of 30 minutes to two hours, categorised from urgent to non-urgent.
30 minutes to two hours, eh? A Twitter user has posted photos of a teenage chemo patient, allegedly forced to spend 27 hours on a couch in the hallway of Box Hill Hospital. Then there are the octogenarian stroke patients sitting in a tent in a car park through a Melbourne winter night.
On Thursday morning, a Melbourne woman contacted radio station 3AW alarmed that her 83-year-old mother had been placed in a tent overnight outside Box Hill Hospital with several other patients. She said her mother had a stroke on Wednesday afternoon and arrived at the hospital about 4pm.
“We’re still waiting for a bed on the ward”, said the woman, who did not wish for her name to be used. She said her mother was being looked after by paramedics and nurses, and had been seen twice by a doctor […]
“They did do a scan last night at 10pm, and this morning the stroke team have agreed … [to] do further testing.”
The Age
Well, that takes care of that, then.
Remember, Dan Andrews has been responsible for Victoria’s health system, as Minister for Health and Premier, for 16 out of the past 22 years. Remember, also, that he promised 4,000 new ICU beds in 2019.
It’s also worth remembering that one of his most consistent pillars of support has been nurses’ and ambulance unions. How’s that working out for them?
Victoria’s ambulance service reported a code red in Melbourne overnight, with ambulance ramping at a major hospital and a shortage of specialised paramedics.
One paramedic described it as a “soul-destroying” situation, the union said.
The Age
Do you still “Stand With Dan”?
In the meantime, Victoria’s illustrious socialist premier is spending $200 billion on a suburban rail loop, and country hospitals are hiring Twitter managers.
Victorians are standing with Dan, all right — all night, in the freezing rain, while they wait to see, not even a doctor, but a student paramedic.