Lyell McEwin Hospital

The Hon. I.K. HUNTER (14:56): Supplementary: I ask the minister, in relation to the answer he just gave, how many additional consultants and nurses will he be putting on staff?

The Hon. S.G. WADE (Minister for Health and Wellbeing) (14:57): My understanding is that it's in the order of 25, but I will get the breakdown. My understanding is that it's both nurses, medical personnel and admin staff. One of the nurses explained to me that one of the roles they are intending to put in was, I think, a position by the name of a communications nurse. A lot of patient flow initiatives are trying to help hospitals connect, basically. If somebody needs to have a transfer, it's often a matter of finding the bed at the next location.

One of the other really interesting initiatives at NALHN which I was able to see in action was when I was in one of the wards and saw a nurse changeover conference. They were using one of the bed management tools to be able to see what was coming their way. I think it was a medical unit, so they were able to look in to the records of the emergency department and identify clients who had been, if you like, earmarked for their sort of care.

I am told that not only do they anticipate what is coming, they also, as was described to me, pull patients in. So they can perhaps identify a patient in the ED who is waiting for a bed and, when a bed becomes available, they might actually approach the ED and say, 'We have a bed.' This is one of a number of measures that is being taken to try to improve patient flow, and that's a real benefit to the people of the north.