The WA Health Minister and the head of Fiona Stanley Hospital have defended the placement of patients in the hospital's corridors, a problem senior doctors and nurses say has been occurring for decades.
At Fiona Stanley Hospital the practice of placing patients in beds in the corridors has been named "red squaring", in reference to red tape on the ground marking where it is safe for beds to go in a corridor.
Health Minister Amber-Jade Sanderson said there was no denying WA's flagship hospital had been busy lately.
But she insisted the use of corridors was being done to make room for sicker people coming through the doors of the emergency department.
"Using corridors, on occasion, when hospitals are busy and emergency departments are busy is a practice that has occurred over many, many years," she said.
"The red tape indicates the safe place for those beds to go and gives staff an idea of where they can go."
"It's not unreasonable in a winter with unprecedented demand, with high levels of COVID in a pandemic, that on occasion this will occur."
Ms Sanderson said there had already been 72 new beds brought online at Fiona Stanley and Fremantle Hospitals in the past 12 months.
"And that will be up to 84 by October, as part of the government's 530 beds across the system in WA to help provide greater capacity," she said.
"We're also seeing furlough of staff from COVID and high numbers of sick leave as we do in winter across every industry, but particularly in health as they're often interacting with unwell people, and people are taking much-needed annual leave."
"So, whilst it is busy – there's no question about that – those very sick people, triage 1, 2, and 3, are seen within the time frame they should be seen."
"Those people who come to emergency and are triage 4 or 5, who could potentially see a GP or seek another form of care, will wait longer."
The minister said there were also a number of people occupying beds because they were COVID-positive, or within seven days of first testing positive, and their families or care facilities would not take them back yet.
Practice occurs only when 'absolutely necessary'
In a statement, the Executive Director of Fiona Stanley Fremantle Hospitals Group, Kellie Blyth, said all public hospitals in the state had strategies in place to manage periods of high demand.
Ms Blyth said the practice of "red squaring" had been in place since the start of the pandemic and was only used when "absolutely necessary".
"The use of 'full capacity protocol' at FSH is primarily for patients who are about to be discharged," she said.
"It is done to free up beds so that patients being admitted from the emergency department can go straight to their allocated ward as quickly as possible.
"This is all about patient safety and is only used when the emergency department is particularly busy.
"The protocol allows patients needing a fully serviced hospital bed to go straight to their allocated ward from the emergency department.
"The area marked with a red square is immediately in front of the nursing station, which is always staffed, to ensure that patients remain safe while in the care of the hospital."
The President of the Australian Medical Association in WA, Dr Mark Duncan-Smith, said while the red tape on the ground was new, patients in corridors had been routine for years.
"To suggest that the patients who go there are ready to be discharged, I don't think is accurate," he said.
"I know and am fully aware that patients go directly from the emergency department to these types of beds, so I think that is stretching the truth slightly.
"This should be something that is a last resort, it should be something that isn't accepted as normality, this is the creeping normality of inadequate capacity of our health system that has been evolving over the past five years."
'Completely unacceptable', says Opposition
The Opposition Health spokeswoman, Libby Mettam, said "red squaring" represented a new low for the health system.
"It is completely unacceptable that red markers are now replacing the privacy of rooms in our hospitals because the McGowan government have run down the health system over the last five years," she said.
Ms Mettam also raised concerns over a 'code yellow' being declared for Fiona Stanley Hospital yesterday before being downgraded by the day's end.
In a further statement, Ms Blyth said her staff at the hospital managed the 'code yellow' well.
"Despite Fiona Stanley Hospital having the second busiest emergency department in Australia and having to manage unprecedented demand yesterday, our incredible team worked together to create capacity across the hospital and see patients in the ED as quickly as possible," she said.
"I am so proud of everyone working at the hospital and of all our colleagues at other South Metro Health Service hospitals who provided support.
"I assure the community that those with life-threatening medical concerns continue to be seen in the FSH ED as a priority, but there may be greater wait times for patients with less urgent needs."
Ms Blyth said people with non-life-threatening medical concerns without the need to come to an emergency department should remember they can be treated safely by a general practitioner or at an urgent care clinic instead.
