It is no secret that the acute health system, across
Australia, is in a state of emergency. Emergency department overcrowding, ambulance ramping, overly long waits for care, burnt out healthcare workers leaving the sector, and adverse outcomes for patients – including avoidable deaths – are becoming ‘normal’.

I have always felt some anticipatory anxiety before working a shift in the emergency department. When I was just starting out, I thought it was only me. My turbulent insides seemed at odds with the calm exteriors of my cool-as-a-cucumber colleagues. I worried that I might not have what it takes to make it in a physically, cognitively and emotionally challenging specialty.

Big week of advocacy for me. With emergency departments bursting at the seams across Australia and Aotearoa NZ this seemed an apt way to mark #ACEMWellnessWeek. We won’t have clinician wellbeing until we have a safer, fairer, better health system. ⁦ onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/17… abc.net.au/radionational/…

Emergency physicians, emergency nurses, @acemonline⁩, ⁦@CENAorg⁩, ⁦@NursingCENNZ⁩ have been talking about preventable morbidity and mortality caused by access block for years. acem.org.au/access-block Access block is the situation where emergency department patients who have been assessed and need a hospital bed are delayed from leaving the emergency department due to a lack of inpatient hospital bed capacity.

Hospital bed blocks, ambulance ramping: Here’s six suggestions to fix them theage.com.au/national/victo… As I read through the article it found myself wanting the things requested by everyone else. They are all important and much needed reforms. Most are also on my wish-list.

Re-posting as we head into the federal election - some ideas, and some updated ideas, for health reform - based on two articles written for ⁦@CroakeyNews⁩ from different time points in a global pandemic. clareskinner.com/writing/at-a-t… The linked thread includes some thoughts on urgent care centres. There is no defined urgent care model in Australia. There are models embedded in emergency departments (eg fast-track or minor injury units) and other models that align more with primary care.

It's really important that we don't blame the general public for seeking care inappropriately. The hospital system has been fragmented and difficult to navigate for years. This is just not a COVID phenomenon - this has been building for years, with increasing out-of-pocket costs.