A new multi-purpose ward at the Royal Darwin Hospital (RDH) has received its first patients this week, with hopes the additional beds will ease months — if not years — of intense staffing and capacity pressures.
Construction of Ward 1C was announced by the former Territory Labor government in 2023, with the $23.95 million investment designed to address the high patient demand and overcrowding that has persisted at the ageing hospital.
NT Health Minister Steve Edgington said 13 patients were now receiving care at the new ward, and the government expected all of its 32 beds would be available to staff and patients by the end of this month.
"Very soon we'll be opening up the 24-bed mental health facility as well, so, with 24 beds at the mental health [ward], 32 beds here, we are expecting that to ease the overall pressure throughout the hospital," he said.
In a statement, an NT government spokesperson said the new facility had been designed as a "multi-purpose ward to care for bariatric, renal and general medical patients".
They said the ward's "flexible" design would allow for "cardiac monitoring, additional isolation capacity, bariatric accommodation, and additional space for patients experiencing cognitive impairment".
The opening of the new ward comes after six code yellows — when extraordinary levels of patient demand lead to emergency procedures being put in place — have been called at the Darwin and Palmerston hospitals since January.
The most recent lasted for weeks in July through to August, and was described by the NT's nursing and midwifery union as "the worst one we've ever had".
The emergency prompted NT Health's acting chief executive Susan Bowden to issue a call-out for almost 60 qualified non-frontline workers to return to the hospital floor to relieve exhausted staff.
Today, Ms Bowden said she was "really happy" to share that more than 30 staff had taken up the call.
"We were listening to particularly the nurse's federation, that there was pressure on the staff," she said.
"We wanted to make sure that they had the opportunity to have a break during that very busy time, so [we're] very appreciative of those who put their hand up."
Federal funding to be used as 'efficiently as possible'
In July this year, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announced a Commonwealth investment of $10 million to improve facilities at RDH's maternity ward.
He said the federally funded upgrades would include refurbishment of the ward's birthing suites and installation of a nursery, a lactation room and a new bereavement room.
"We are planning and ensuring that we're ready to go and ready to commence the works as soon as possible after we receive that money," Mr Edgington said.
With the NT government's original request for $35 million federal funding knocked back, Mr Edgington said the $10 million would be used as "efficiently as possible" but that some of the upgrades needed to RDH maternity services may be jettisoned.
"We want to get as much coverage as possible; there may be some things that can't be covered, but we'll look at how we manage those moving forward," he said.
"That scope of works is being looked at at the moment, being prepared so that we can go to tender ASAP."
The minister also addressed the findings of a recent scathing parliamentary report into the Acacia patient record system, which examined the project's ever-growing cost to taxpayers and claims of a "toxic" workplace culture within the NT Department of Corporate and Digital Development and made 11 recommendations.
"Bullying is totally unacceptable. We want to ensure that there's a safe place for every employee in NT Health, and we'll consider all of those recommendations further," he said.
