RPH acting executive director Aresh Anwar told The Sunday Times he wanted to “put the call out” to patients to consider steering clear of the hospital’s ED as it prepared for this “challenging time”.
RPH will be scaled back from 855 beds to 450 beds on February 3, when the third and second-last phase of the $2 billion FSH opens. Several other services, including the State Burns Unit, will also transfer from RPH to FSH that day.
Dr Anwar said anyone who could be treated elsewhere, by a general practitioner or pharmacist, was urged to consider other options.
“Of course we will deal with each and every individual who arrives at our front door who has a need that needs to be met, we will meet it,” he said.
“But we are putting a call out to patients that if their healthcare needs could potentially be met by another provider … as opposed to coming to ED then we would (ask) that could they make a judgment call.”
The hospital is one of a number of facilities in Perth’s south to undergo a shake-up as part of a “reconfiguration” of services leading up to the opening of the 783-bed FSH.
The Barnett Government has previously come under fire over the management of this transition, which will cause hundreds of staff to be displaced from their jobs.
Writing in the hospital’s newsletter this week, Dr Anwar confessed the past year had been a “low point” in RPH’s 121-year history, as job uncertainly took a toll on staff.
Speaking to The Sunday Times, he admitted some staff still did not know where they would be working next month.
Health Services Union state secretary Dan Hill said RPH staff continued to feel anxious and stressed about the upcoming changes with RPH’s future uncertain.
Opposition health spokesman Roger Cook said the project’s workforce planning had been “woeful”.
Earlier this month, The Sunday Times revealed an independent report had flagged hundreds of major safety risks at the hospital. Dr Anwar declined comment on the report.