Cairns Hospital ‘under pressure’ with staff shortages due to Covid

Cairns Hospital is ‘under pressure’ with a large number of staff away from work as the second Omicron wave of Covid hits its stride.

THE Cairns and Hinterland Hospital and Health Service (CHHHS) is battling with more than 130 staff off work with Covid or in isolation as a close contact.

But while State health Minister Yvette D’Ath has indicated there may be statewide cuts to elective surgery with a second wave of Covid surging upward, there are no plans right now to cut elective surgeries in Cairns.

Acting CEO of Cairns and Hinterland Hospital and Health Services Steve Thacker said there was pressure on staffing levels.

The Cairns and Hinterland Hospital and Health Service Covid-19 vaccination centre nursing director Jane Jordan and program director Kelly Pollock at The Pier CHHHS Covid vaccination clinic. Picture: Brendan Radke

“We have 132 people off on furlough,” he said.

“It is having a significant impact, our focus is on maintaining our services to keep people flowing through the hospital, but we do have pressure on staffing.”

Mr Thacker said as the wave of new cases moved towards a peak in coming weeks, there were no plans to cut back on elective surgery.

“We haven’t closed any at this stage and we anticipate being able to keep services running and all of our elective surgeries continuing,” Mr Thacker said.

He urged people to get vaccinated and isolate and get tested if unwell.

Across the region, more than 95 per cent of people have had their first dose, 93.2 per cent have had a second dose, but only 61.4 per cent have had a booster dose as well.

“We’re certainly in the second wave and monitoring that really closely, sometime in the next few weeks we’ll be seeing the peak, and provided we don’t get another strain coming through, numbers will start to drop,” Mr Thacker said.

Maggie and Jim Copp at home in their retirement complex in Smithfield are grateful for the level of care they received from the Cairns Hospital Virtual Covid Ward. Photo: Emily Barker

Fourth booster shots are available now for adults aged 65 years and older, residents of aged care or disability care facilities, people aged 16 years and older who are severely immunocompromised and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people aged 50 years and older.

The winter booster dose can be given from four months after the first booster, or four months after having Covid.

CHHHS has three pop-up vaccination clinics at Cairns Central, Smithfield Shopping Centre and Mt Sheridan Shopping Centre over the school holidays, and mobile clinics throughout the region.

Health Minister Yvette D’Ath said increasing cases in hospitals and more than double the number of health staff being unable to work meant there was pressure on the system.

Ms D’Ath said more than 3000 health workers were in isolation, putting extreme pressure on some hospitals.

Originally published as Cairns Hospital ‘under pressure’ with staff shortages due to Covid