Fiona Stanley Hospital staff told to discharge patients to free up beds for an urgent cardiac surgery

A Perth hospital was so overwhelmed on Thursday that staff were sent an SOS frantically calling for patients to be discharged to free up beds for an urgent cardiac surgery. The West Australian has obtained the report sent to Fiona Stanley Hospital senior staff, which showed the entire hospital was on code yellow with zero capacity. The warning came as the FSH intensive care unit had been on “bed state black” for four consecutive days, which hospital guidelines say “indicates a sustained deficiency in medical beds with no immediate space”. “I can’t remember a day that there was no code yellow,” one senior staff member said. “Major cases are being cancelled every day . . . operating room safety and efficiency is also struggling due to operating nurse shortages and sickness.” The latest incident exposes WA’s hospital crisis and staff fear the Government’s solution — a medi-hotel with 80 beds under construction in Murdoch — will make staffing shortages worse. And the senior staff member added that those working to cover the shortages were increasingly calling in sick because of burnout. “Where will they find the staff for those (new) beds?” they said. “We don’t have enough staff now.” They described a constant backlog of elective surgeries being delayed or cancelled because no beds were available. The South Metropolitan Health Service, which oversees FSH, confirmed a “capacity code yellow” was declared on Thursday. A spokesperson called it “a normal, internal mechanism” used to manage the hospital. “The WA public health system never turns anyone away and the hospital continues to accept patients who present at the emergency department and these patients are prioritised according to clinical need.” But figures released in State Parliament this week revealed an 80 per cent increase in the number of double shifts being worked by WA nurses, sparking allegations the health system is in crisis and patient safety is at risk. The increase was worst in the South Metropolitan Health Service, where 123 nurses worked 135 double shifts in July. That’s up 180 per cent from 48 in March. “It points to a system which is under extraordinary pressure, putting the lives of patients and risk and health workers under extraordinary pressure,” Liberal leader Libby Mettam said. Australian Nursing Federation secretary Mark Olson added that workloads were becoming increasingly unsafe. “Now that dangerous situation has gone past crisis and is moving towards insanity,” he said “Those crises have become the norm.” The ANF is pushing for a 20 per cent pay increase over three years to attract and retain more nurses but says closing beds is the only alternative in the short term to avoid burnout. “The Government won’t do that because that means the Government has to be honest with the public and say ‘we’ve got a crisis here’,” Mr Olson said. “So you’ve got nurses not taking sick leave when they should, you’ve got nurses doing double shifts when they shouldn’t.” WA Health said on Thursday that double shifts are not usual practice and blamed school holiday periods because more staff took leave. “Casual, part-time, Nurse West and agency staff options are considered first,” a spokesperson said. “If any health staff members have specific concerns about taking on overtime or other workplace issues we encourage them to raise them through their management for attention.”