NSW: Hospital code reds blocked by administrators: Oppn

AAP General News (Australia)
04-30-2004
NSW: Hospital code reds blocked by administrators: Oppn

SYDNEY, April 30 AAP - Code red requests by overloaded emergency department staff at
a south-western Sydney hospital were regularly blocked by health administrators for political
reasons, the NSW Opposition said today.

A 2002 emergency department log from Campbelltown Hospital confirmed suspicions about
management intervention in code red requests, and proved that data had been tampered with,
Opposition health spokesman Barry O'Farrell said.

When a hospital emergency department declares itself in code red, it notifies ambulances
to take all but the most critical patients to other hospitals.

Mr O'Farrell said the log was tabled at yesterday's sitting of a NSW parliamentary
inquiry into complaints handling by NSW Health, by Dr David Hugelmeyer, the emergency
director for Campbelltown and Camden hospitals.

"Dr David Hugelmeyer (has) given clear evidence that decisions were made by administrators
to overrule medical specialists about calling a code red," Mr O'Farrell told reporters.

"The log shows almost daily requests from overloaded emergency staff being refused
by administrators sitting in offices and protecting the interests of their political masters."

He said examples in the six-page log showed a code red request was rejected when 17
patients were awaiting admission.

Mr O'Farrell said he would call on the auditor-general to reopen his investigation
into the code red system, after it was last year found that while discrepancies existed
in the system, the problem was not affecting patient outcomes.

Earlier, deputy director-general of NSW Health Bob McGregor told the inquiry hospitals
were not pressured by the department to avoid code red status.

"The code red system is an objective system," Mr McGregor said.

He said code red decisions were left entirely to the ambulance service, individual
hospitals and the area health service involved.

AAP swe/smb/tma/tnf

KEYWORD: HOSPITALS RED

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