Page 6097 - Week 14 - Thursday, 9 December 2010
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work. If you talk to the college of emergency physicians, they will be very clear about this. Because you come with a letter from your GP, it does not mean necessarily that you will be seen ahead of someone who presents without a letter from a GP.
I can say that paperwork that accompanies the patients is considered as part of the triage allocation. But, as I said, where concerns are raised around triage allocation, all of those cases are reviewed and the concern that has been brought to my attention recently is under review.
MR SESELJA: Supplementary, Mr Speaker.
MR SPEAKER: Mr Seselja.
MR SESELJA: Minister, will you now apologise to Mrs Jurello for the extraordinarily long wait and extraordinarily distressing wait that she experienced in the emergency department?
MS GALLAGHER: I always apologise to people where the experience that they have not had in the emergency department is one that they would have wanted. The concerns that have been raised around particular cases: I in the first instance ask for a full review, which is what I have done in this case.
MS PORTER: A supplementary, Mr Speaker.
MR SPEAKER: Yes, Ms Porter.
MS PORTER: Minister, it seems obvious that those opposite do not quite understand what triage means. Could you explain to us what triage means.
MS GALLAGHER: Thank you—
Mr Hanson: It means that if someone has had a stroke they do not wait for 13 hours.
MR SPEAKER: Order! The minister has the floor.
MS GALLAGHER: Mr Hanson has obviously reviewed the clinical situation around the complaint that is currently under review and come to his own conclusion. Or should I say Dr Hanson?
MR SPEAKER: Ms Gallagher, the question, thank you.
MS GALLAGHER: Dr Hanson has determined the outcome.
MR SPEAKER: Ms Gallagher, the question.
MS GALLAGHER: The way all emergency departments operate is that all patients, regardless of how they arrive at the emergency department, are reviewed by the triage nurse. The triage nurse has five categories to apply to a patient presenting at the hospital. We also have nurses that do regular clinical reviews of patients who are
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