The Royal Hobart Hospital (RHH) says it has revised its escalation protocols amid complaints from staff that attempts to ease worsening bed shortages through the use of emergency codes are being ignored by management. But the nurses union says it is yet to see the details of the new measures. On Monday, the hospital’s emergency department (ED) was at triple its capacity – with 75 patients waiting. Requests by RHH staff to use emergency codes were again rejected by senior management, the Labor Opposition revealed in State Parliament on Wednesday. ED staff attempted to call a “code yellow” emergency code on three occasions because it could not manage patient flow, but were denied. Code yellow denotes an “internal emergency”.
