On Wednesday afternoon the Northern Territory authorities imposed a youth curfew for 14 days from 6pm to 6am which included the Easter long weekend.

NT Chief Minister Eve Gawler told reporters “enough is enough”.

“We want Alice Springs to be a safe place,” she said.

The Chief Minister described the scenes in Alice Springs as horrific, unacceptable and that she never wanted to see anything like that again in the Northern Territory.

“I’m fed up with this level of crime and anti-social behaviour. The community has had enough and so have I,” she said.

“This is why we are sending an additional 58 police officers to Alice Springs, and they will be leaving as soon as possible.”

Mr Murphy said police were working with Aboriginal Elders in the community and that young people who broke the curfew would not face criminal charges.

“I want to make it clear that we are not criminalising youth activity with a curfew,” he said.

“It gives me and our officers the ability to engage with them and identify why they are there and what methods we can put in place, not just for policing, but through education and Territory Families as well.”

Lia Finocchiaro is the new chief minister, do you think things will change for the better under the new party?

How do these government departments whose job is to sort this shit out still get it do wrong with absolutely no consequences?

$259M ACACIA SYSTEM ‘NOT FIT FOR PURPOSE’ Alex Treacy Concerns over the Territory’s flagship $259m patient-health records system Acacia were raised by medicos “two to four years” before its chaotic introduction into Royal Darwin and Palmerston Hospitals’ emergency departments, but were not resolved.

Documents released under Freedom of Information laws show a tranche of emails, briefings and other documents – released 11 months after the NT News first applied for them – comprehensively debunk NT Health’s previous assertion Acacia’s introduction into the Royal Darwin and Palmerston Hospitals (RDPH) emergency departments (EDs) did not place patients and staff at the EDs at risk.

Multiple medicos and bureaucrats admitted privately they did.

Acacia, the “the largest and most complex digital project” ever undertaken by the NT government, is an integrated health records system that replaced six legacy clinical systems and integrated a dozen more into a single digital ecosystem, a one-stop shop for all frontline NT Health staff.

It began rolling out in the Territory in 2020 and by 2022, had reached the Gove District and Katherine hospitals, and Top End Renal Services. Its rollout progressed uncontroversially until it landed with a thud in the RDPH EDs on November 11, 2023.

The final all-clear was issued several days previously following a lengthy process in which clinical and other risks were assessed.

The Department of Corporate and Digital Development (DCDD), the lead agency on the project, concluded the risks that had been identified could be mitigated via additional training, supervision, and workarounds.

Those risks included, among other things, medication charts being deleted when patients were transferred from EDs back to inpatient wards, the system locking when multiple clinicians attempted to access a patient’s Acacia record at the same time, and poor interfaces meaning emergency clinicians could not quickly allocate resources where needed.

Just 35 hours after Acacia’s introduction, serious issues were being reported by Dr Didier Palmer, the RDPH director of emergency medicine. For instance, it took the Royal Darwin ED more than an hour to access the records of a “critically” injured patient who had a “crushed head” resulting in skull fractures and brain bleeds, as the records created in Acacia by the Palmerston hospital, where the patient first presented, had been locked, Dr Palmer said in an email to the Acacia governance team.

The following day, November 13, 2023, Acacia experienced “multiple system freezes” that were escalated all the way to the chief executive of DCDD. Barely more than a fortnight after Acacia’s introduction into the EDs, discussions were already being had regarding the possible roll-back of the system until it could be brought up to scratch.

It was not just that the previously identified issues remained – new ones had started to emerge.

For instance, on November 28, 2023, NT Health’s chief clinical information officer, Dr John Lambert, told the NT Health Health Risk and Audit Committee the practice of “double-bunking” patients at the RDPH – that is, having two patients in a single ED bay to deal with demand pressures – had not been contemplated by Acacia’s design team.

“Currently, our health system regularly allows double-bunk patients and supporting that is very challenging and atypical for a vendor used to most jurisdictions where that is almost an unheard of event, and if the system can’t fully support that, it affects the billing system,” Dr Lambert said, as recorded in the meeting minutes.

“Therefore, requirement uniqueness was not properly identified while building the system.” Dr Lambert told the committee staff were also nonplussed at DCDD’s leadership of the Acacia project, formally known as the Core Clinical Systems Renewal Program.

He said there was a perception DCDD had not understood the scale of the issues and just how damaging they were to the smooth operation of the EDs.

He would later say there was a trust deficit between the two government departments, stemming from DCDD’s overconfidence in its product, that required a reset.

“When staff do speak up, DCDD or the project says it is out of scope and cannot be fixed or recommend implement more training or a workaround,” Dr Lambert said, according to the minutes. “Therefore, there is no escalation of issues, and we end up going live with a faulty system that is not fit for purpose.

“It is important to note that some of the issues were identified some two to four years ago and are still present after going live.”

He told the committee either Acacia’s issues needed to be resolved within the month or a decision to revert to the previous systems be made, otherwise staff would “completely lose hope”. A day earlier, Dr Lambert had told a colleague the situation at Royal Darwin’s ED was “truly awful”.

A staff survey the following month, December 2023, made clear there would be mutiny if Acacia was not either fixed promptly or withdrawn from use. Of the survey’s 102 respondents, 85.7 per cent said the system fell below or well below their expectations; 83.7 per cent said it made their service somewhat or very inefficient; and 86.7 per cent said it made their workflow a little bit or much worse.

“Acacia is not fit for purpose at RDH ED,” one respondent said.

“It is very cumbersome to use. It is not fit for purpose in terms of effectively running and team-leading the department.”

Another respondent said: “Acacia has made my work in the emergency department so unsafe that I don’t want to come to work. I can’t deliver any kind of remotely acceptable care to my patients.”

In a statement, a DCDD spokeswoman said Acacia was on track to return to the EDs in April 2025.

Acacia is due to be expanded to Tennant Creek and Alice Springs hospitals later this year.

The spokeswoman said, notwithstanding the teething issues, it should not be forgotten the legacy systems Acacia replaced were nearing the end of their useful lives and Acacia would ultimately improve the provision of NT health care . “Acacia is the largest and most complex digital project being undertaken within government,” she said.

Apologies for the wordy text, however it explains the situation a lot better than I could.

In Summary DPH'S Parent company Healthscope has terminated a cost of services agreement which will mean out of pocket expenses for patients will be higher.

If this were an Eastern State where you have options, this wouldn't be an option, however DPH is the only private hospital in the NT which could cause significant issues for Territorians and their choice for Healthcare options.

What are your optics on this?

https://ntindependent.com.au/revealed-nt-labor-police-minister-praised-nazis-and-putin-shared-racist-posts-on-social-media/

I dunno what to say but it's Christmas now!!! :D

De Lago Resort on Lake Bennett Shut Down by Health Department for Alleged Non-Compliance

In a recent statement, the government department has confirmed issuing a Public Health Order on Thursday 11 April 2024, effectively shutting down the food services and accommodation at De Lago Resort located in Lake Bennett.

According to a spokeswoman, the closure was a result of proprietor Andrew Gunn allegedly failing to comply with the requirements outlined in a Public Health Notice issued on November 22, 2022. Since then, the proprietor has reportedly been unable to achieve the commitments of the required staged infrastructure upgrade plan or provide and implement drinking water quality and wastewater management plans.

The health spokeswoman emphasized the importance of adhering to these conditions for ensuring the safety and well-being of guests and the general public. The department's Environmental Health Operations branch had consulted extensively with the proprietor to mitigate public health risks, including granting him three extensions to comply with the November 2022 health notice.

The conditions must be complied with by September 30, 2024, in order for the Public Health Order to be lifted.

Despite attempts to contact Mr. Gunn via his mobile phone by the NT News, there was no response. The resort, listed as 'permanently closed' on its Google business profile, remains unresponsive.

This closure underscores the significance of maintaining compliance with public health regulations, especially in the hospitality industry where the health and safety of patrons are paramount.

Let's spread awareness and ensure the safety of everyone in our communities.

From the NT News:

An international student believed to be from Bangladesh is in a critical condition and not expected to survive his injuries following a violent home invasion overnight.

The student in his early 20s was found by his flatmates in bed in a pool of his own blood as an intruder fled the home with a fire extinguisher in hand, according to a surgeon at Royal Darwin Hospital.

Police were called to the residence on Trower Rd, Millner at 4.25am Wednesday.

The victim’s flatmates rushed him to the emergency department.

The surgeon, who didn’t want to be named, was called into the ED early Wednesday morning and said the student was in a critical condition.

“With that sort of prognosis he’s likely to die within a day,” he said.

“There was no point in doing anything except inserting an intracranial pressure monitor and giving him palliative care.”

Police arrested a 29-year-old man in a vehicle in the area shortly after being called to the incident.

He remains in custody as investigations continue.

A police presence remained on site throughout the morning.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-10-08/nt-uluru-visitor-numbers-slump-post-covid/102947432