Planned surgery and outpatient care services at Northern NSW Local Health District will resume from Tuesday 11 March where possible, subject to staff availability.
Emergency departments also remain open 24 hours a day, so people who need to seek emergency care should continue to do so.
Tracey Maisey, NNSWLHD Chief Executive, said healthcare staff continue to provide ongoing care to the community as ex-Tropical Cyclone Alfred continues to impact the region.
Ms Maisey said patients will be contacted if their planned appointment or surgery needs to be postponed, but any patients not able to make their appointments should inform the relevant health service so these appointments can be made available to others.
“They say when the going gets tough, the tough get going and that is certainly the case when it comes to our workforce,” Ms Maisey said.
“To date, more than 370 staff stayed away from their homes – some for up to four days – to ensure emergency and urgent care services to patients across the NNSWLHD’s eight hospitals and four multi-purpose services.
“Most of these staff slept on-site in the hospitals to ensure they were able to report for duty the next day, lending a hand to unpack and deliver supplies and assisting in evacuation centres.
“While the emergency is not yet over, we are indebted to all our staff, both clinical and non-clinical, for their incredible efforts to provide the best possible care for our community over the duration of this weather event.
“We are also extremely grateful to those NSW Health staff, including registered nurses, mental health and allied health workers, who have travelled from other locations across the state to provide back-up support in our hospitals – thank you! With their support we are planning to resume normal operations, where possible, from Tuesday.”
Ms Maisey said 130 patients were delivered to emergency departments by NSW Ambulance across the NNSWLHD on Saturday 8 March, following 118 presentations on Friday, both higher than normal.
Walk-in emergency department presentations were slightly lower than usual as people chose to stay home during the adverse weather. Friday saw 435 walk-in ED presentations across the District and Saturday saw 520 – lower than the usual 600-plus presentations per day. This is expected to return to normal from today.
Technical support teams, with the support of emergency services, worked well into the night to distribute back-up telecommunications equipment, while healthcare workers from NNSWLHD and Healthy North Coast continue to provide support at evacuation centres across the region.
Helpful resources:
If your life is in danger, please call Triple Zero (000).
If you need medical advice and care, call Healthdirect for free, 24/7 on 1800 022 222 and speak to a registered nurse. They can also connect you or your children with virtual health care services, so you can receive care from wherever you are.
If you need crisis support, please call Lifeline Australia at any time on 13 11 14. Children and young people can call Kids Helpline at any time on 1800 55 1800 or chat online at kidshelpline.com.au
For non-crisis support, please call Beyondblue on 1300 22 46 36. There’s also a range of online resources to support you and your loved ones. Please visit Beyondblue and Lifeline online. Young people should visit headspace.org.au, Kids Helpline or ReachOut.com
ENDS.
Image caption:
Elle Jones, Emika Denzel, Collette Simmons and Sandy Ball hold fort at Tweed Valley Hospital’s maternity unit over the weekend as ex-Tropical Cyclone Alfred impacted across Northern NSW.