Media release from Shadow Health Minister Bill Yan:
Today Territorians woke up to the news of yet another Code Yellow called for Royal Darwin and Palmerston hospitals, off the back of 9 code yellows at these facilities in the past financial year.
Shadow Minister for Health, Bill Yan, today said that “Labor’s mismanagement of the economy means they cannot provide the essential services Territorians need when they need them.”
“The Fyles Government has tried again to pass this off as ‘normal’ as they did in Estimates where the Chief Minister, as Health Minister wouldn’t answer questions on the impact code yellows are having here in the Territory.”
“This is absolutely not normal and it means Territorians are missing out on surgeries and taxpayers are paying more.”
“Now in written responses the CLP have uncovered that in the last 12 months, Royal Darwin and Palmerston have spent 46 days in code yellow over 9 instances” he said.
“Another discovery is that this Labor Government due to their bed capacity shortage has had to buy bed services off Darwin Private Hospital, something again they were not forthcoming about.”
“Last year taxpayers paid over $533,000 buying bed services from Darwin Private during code yellows to pay for Natasha Fyles mismanagement.”
“This is on top of the over $10 million spent on security at hospitals as a result of Labor’s crime crisis.”
“The Labor Government’s inability to keep up with the demand for Aged Care beds, and the additional budget strain caused by crime mean the Territory’s Top End hospitals will continue to see more code yellows.” said Mr Yan.
