Wednesday 13 January 2010
STANDARDISED CHARTS ARE FINE, BUT LABOR MUST STOP CUTTING HOSPITAL STAFF
The standardisation of medical observation charts across NSW is well and good, but unless Labor reverses the staff budget cuts across the State, there will be few nurses left to actually check on patients, Deputy NSW Opposition Leader and Shadow Minister for Health Jillian Skinner said today.
“Standardising patient observation charts clearly makes sense, but if there are no staff around to fill them in or check on them, then this initiative – like so many Labor health announcements – will fail,” Mrs Skinner said.
“Charts don’t monitor patients, doctors and nurses monitor patients – and State Labor Government budget cutbacks are resulting in fewer hospital staff,” she said.
“If there are not enough hospital staff to conduct blood pressure, heart rate, breathing and temperature tests, the charts won’t be updated and a patient’s condition will still deteriorate unnoticed.
“Many deaths in our hospitals occur when a patients condition deteriorates and it goes unnoticed by doctors and nurses who are rushed off their feet, too busy to keep a close eye on their patient because they are already treating the next one.
“Unless there are doctors and nurses with enough time to properly fill in and then interpret the standardised chart, this will be just another Labor health announcement that goes nowhere and does not improve patient care.
“I have grave doubts about the ability of Labor’s creaking health bureaucracy to roll this program out across the state in a timely and efficient manner.
“More than four years after the tragic death of Vanessa Anderson there has been precious little action from the State Labor Government to improve patient monitoring in our public hospitals.
“In Vanessa Anderson’s case, the Coroner pointed out “Record taking, and clinical notes were either non-existent or deficient”, and this contributed to her death.
“Four years later, little has changed under the State Labor Government,” Mrs Skinner said.