Victoria's major children's hospital is about to finish building 20 new emergency department beds it cannot use. Hospital sources have told the ABC that the beds — promised under a $50 million upgrade of the Royal Children's Hospital announced by the state government in 2018 — will not be operational when the expansion is completed, the ABC reports, because no additional funding was provided for the extra staff needed to run them.
It is understood one solution being explored is transferring staff from other areas of the hospital. Staff say they are devastated — and some are saying so on the walls, displaying signs around the emergency department as part of protected industrial action while pay negotiations with the state's doctors continue. One sign reads: the "extension looks lovely but no money for extra staff required".
Another poster apologises to families for "the long wait", explaining that the department runs below-average staffing and bed numbers for a facility treating about 90,000 patients a year. It cites Australasian College for Emergency Medicine figures suggesting an average equivalent department has 50 per cent more doctors, 40 per cent more nurses, 60 per cent more treatment beds and 110 per cent more beds for patients who need to stay longer.
'The standard of care... was being compromised'
An email shared among senior medical staff details the frustration: the "imminent completion of our ED expansion but with no prospect of being able to staff and open those areas due to a lack of funding". Staff, it says, have spent years dealing with under-resourcing and demand growing beyond what the facility was built for. "We can be honest with each other and accept that despite our best efforts, the standard of care we would like to deliver and believe our patients deserve was being compromised," the email says. "By 2018 we were seeing over 80,000 children a year and an acknowledgement made by the Victorian government that we needed to expand by an additional 20 beds — effectively a 50 per cent increase." The email adds that hospital executives have been supportive of staff concerns, acknowledging that only more staff can bring the beds online.
The Australian Medical Association of Victoria has spoken to concerned staff. "We're extremely concerned that the RCH is already underfunded and under-supported with treatment spaces," president Simon Judkins said. "Clearly this investment in 20 treatment spaces without staff is going to continue to ensure that the growing demands in the ED are not going to be met, and stress on staff is going to continue." And then the wider charge: "This follows the pattern of this government putting money into building things but not supporting the staff to do the job, and we've seen this time and time again."
No answers on the funding question
The hospital, the state health department and Health Minister Ingrid Stitt were contacted by the ABC but did not respond to specific questions about the funding issue. A Victorian government spokesperson said Labor was "working closely with the hospital to transition services into the expanded emergency department once works are complete", while an RCH spokesperson said the hospital was working with the department to "provide improved access to emergency care for children and young people".
Eight years after the expansion was promised, the building is nearly there and the staffing isn't. Between the poster on the wall and the spokesperson's statement sits the question nobody answered: when the doors to the new wing open, who will be standing behind them?
