The Northern Territory government has confirmed that it will not build a new Royal Darwin Hospital during its current term, putting to rest hopes that a replacement facility was in the works. The confirmation came during budget estimates this week, even as patients and doctors raise concerns that the ageing hospital is being pushed past its limits.
Among those affected is Tessa, who twelve months on still remembers every detail of the day she gave birth at the hospital. When she arrived at the maternity ward, she said, there were no rooms available and no birth suites available, with the hospital at capacity at the time she went into labour.
With no birthing space free, her obstetrician turned to the only room left, the maternity ward tea room. Tessa said a bedside ultrasound was carried out with her lying on a couch, and that doctors made tea or coffee in the same room before a birthing suite finally became available for her to use.
She described the experience as cramped and stripped of privacy, far from what she had imagined for the birth of her second child. Tessa said she wholeheartedly believes her labour would have been a lot quicker had she been in a safe space without interruptions, and she went home even though her baby had jaundice, which she believes was linked to the hospital being over capacity.
Doctors say the problems extend well beyond the maternity ward and that the entire hospital, now more than 50 years old, needs to be replaced. One described it as a scary building that is sad, old and tired, while still full of good people delivering safe care, adding that Territorians deserve more than just baseline safe care. Some spaces, such as the neonatal intensive care unit, were said to look the same now as they did 30 or 40 years ago.
There had been hopes that a new hospital would be built, but the matter was settled in budget estimates this week. Asked whether a hospital was being built, the answer given was a short no, with officials noting there were two and a half years left in the term of government and that no hospital could be built within that time.
The government says it is boosting healthcare funding and has long-term plans for the facility. It says a new 32-bed multipurpose ward and a mental health ward will help ease the capacity issues at Royal Darwin Hospital, even as calls continue for a full replacement of the ageing building.