I am speaking only about the hospitals, in Bunbury West Australia, I have no info on any other ones
Bunbury is the second largest city in WA, with a population of about 72,000
There are two hospitals in the same complex, one government, and one private
They share facilities such as, emergency/operating theatre/chemist/food/canteen/car park/etc
The car park is good for at least 400 cars, plus regular public transport is laid on
In the first lockdown, my wife was admitted for a few days, during that time the car park was fairly empty, due to the ban on elective surgeries
I was due to have elective surgery in April, (which I think was when the ban was lifted).
The other day, (a four month delay), I went in for day surgery, and hardly found a place to park, so the hospital must have been fairly full
I will point out that the hospitals car park, is a good three kilometres from any shops, so the general public, have no reason to use it. This proves to me, that my local hospital, will not be able to accommodate, both local illness, as well as any extra Covid-19 patients
I am not COMplaining, I am just EXplaining, what I see, in my area
Hopefully the hospital situation, is much better, in other parts of Australia
I have had reason to visit a couple of Perth hospitals over a number of years, and the car parks are always busy.
I don't think you can guage the hospitals ability to cope with something like Covid by the Carpark capacity or lack thereof.
If we had another outbreak, then the general trend is to stop any elective surgery.
I visited Royal Perth for an MRI scan during the height of the pandemic in WA .
They made my appointment at 8pm at night when things were quiet, and you were not allowed to enter the hospital unless you were carrying your appointment letter. Only Emergency was open to walk in's. The Carpark was only quarter full, so I think they manage things well when they need to. I was quite impressed by the care and attention that took place to avoid infection just in the radiology dept.
I have been to the RPH hospital burns unit, a few times
Sometimes when the car park was full, there was someone at the boom gate, and you had to show your appointment, before you was allowed in
I have been up to the Fiona Stanley, and the St Johns hospital in Murdock, a few times with the dear old mother in law
Each time those two car parks were fairly full
What I am pointing out, is that if the Covid-19 got a hold in West Australia, then there are not many spare hospital beds, unless they stop treating, local illness/surgery
I had read, that after the elderly folks in Victoria (Covid-19 positive), were moved from care units to hospitals, the hospitals were asking that they be moved somewhere else
We had a visit to Bunbury Emergency a few days ago for a fractured bone in a foot. Although the car park was quite full, the emergency department only had us and another person waiting. The carpark is going to be expanded (see signs at hospital) so this will alleviate the problem. There is a small section of the carpark set aside for workers, my thought is it's not enough and the workers take over more of the carpark
