NSW opens hospital command centre to handle winter demand

The NSW Government has opened a dedicated Health System Operations Command Centre to help coordinate hospital capacity, ambulance services and patient transfers across NSW to support timely access to care during periods of increased winter demand.

The command centre co-locates System Flow Officers, NSW Ambulance and Patient Transport Services, strengthening system-wide coordination and operational oversight.

The System Flow Officers work closely with all 17 local health districts and speciality health networks, to identify emerging pressures and assess demand for care in emergency departments. When the Command Centre identifies an ED experiencing a high volume of emergency presentations, it works closely with NSW Ambulance to safely redirect suitable patients with non-life-threatening conditions to alternative hospitals with available capacity.

This coordinated approach aims to help patients access appropriate hospital care sooner, and ambulances can return to the community to continue responding to emergencies.

During periods of heightened demand, the command centre also prioritises patients awaiting Patient Transport Services for transfer home or to residential aged care facilities. This helps improve patient flow, make beds available sooner for incoming patients, and allows clinical staff to continue providing care to those with the greatest need.

Winter illness activity

ED presentations and admissions for influenza-like illness have continued to increase in recent weeks, including for children aged less than 10 years.

Influenza notifications have increased and are currently circulating at a moderate level, with 2509 notified cases in the week ending 25 July. This represents only a small proportion of the total number of people with influenza in the community, because only those who have a laboratory test will be notified.

During periods of increased hospital demand, healthdirect is an important pathway to care outside of the hospital, helping to reduce avoidable presentations, support frontline staff and ensure people are quickly connected with the right care, including virtual care options and urgent care centres.

“We have established a command centre to oversee our hospital system’s winter preparedness and response to the increased demand that we see during this season,” said Minister for Health Ryan Park. “In the meantime, we are bolstering the capacity of our hospitals with more hospitals, beds and treatment spaces as well as more health workers.”

“We’ve had command centres before in period of peak demand, but now we’re making it permanent to give us strong oversight over how the system is responding to the demands of the season,” said NSW Health Secretary Susan Pearce. “This is just one of the ways we have prepared the healthcare system for winter. We also have the capacity to surge up bed numbers as needed, extend operational hours for hospital services, and support our staff to improve patient flow through hospitals.”

Image credit: iStock.com/Daria Nipot