NORTHEAST Health Wangaratta (NHW) has entered an organisation–wide Code Yellow, in the face of increasing emergency department (ED) demand in recent days.
As the hospital continues to battle staff shortages amid increased demand for emergency treatment, the decision was made to implement the emergency Code Yellow on Monday.
Acting chief executive officer Robyn Gillis said more than 50 staff were sick and unable to work today, and urged community members to remain patient and respectful when visiting the ED.
"We are seeing increases in ED presentations, hospital admissions and emergency surgeries," she said.
"For context, we usually have around 80 people present to the ED in a day – over the past week there have been multiple days where there have been upwards of 100 presentations.
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"We are also seeing a higher rate of those ED presentations requiring admission to the hospital.
"We are incredibly grateful to our teams of healthcare workers here at NHW."
Despite the implementation of Code Yellow, community members who require urgent medical assistance are encouraged to present to NHW's ED.
Anyone experiencing a medical condition that is not an emergency is urged to visit a GP or call Nurse–On–Call on 1300 60 60 24.
