Gerrard to personally visit each hospital over Covid concerns

The chief health officer will visit every state hospital to assess Covid-19 safety protocols following pressure from doctors who claim patients are dying due to ward transmission.

Queensland’s chief health officer will personally visit each state hospital to assess Covid-19 safety protocols following pressure from concerned doctors who claim patients are dying “unnecessarily” due to ward transmission.

In an email to the Australian Medical Association Queensland on Thursday, Dr John Gerrard emphasised that he had been concerned about the problem for “some time” and would be meeting with staff to discuss concerns and challenges.

The tour of hospitals follows an exclusive report by The Courier-Mail last week that revealed that in-patients were dying every week with Covid in the state’s hospitals while being treated for other medical conditions.

Queensland Health Chief Health Officer Dr John Gerrard. Picture: John Gass

Shock Right to Information data also exposed that 14 patients a day contracted the virus while in hospital.

Dr Gerrard responded to the report by saying protocols “must be balanced and proportionate” and that expert infection control teams were in place.

But in this week’s missive the chief doctor responded to the AMAQ’s concerns by saying he had discussed the issue with Belinda Henderson, Chief Infection Control Nurse, Queensland Infection and Prevention Unit.

“Belinda and I have decided to systematically visit as many Queensland hospitals as possible. We will meet with their staff, seek to understand the challenges and work with the Infection Prevention and Control teams on a solution suitable for their hospital. This will take a number of weeks,” Dr Gerrard said.

The AMAQ has welcomed the move but president Maria Boulton said it was necessary that doctors at each hospital were free to offer their concerns without fear of losing their jobs.

“We commend the members who reached out to us about this out of concern for their patients and colleagues,” Dr Boulton said.

Dr Boulton said that patients presenting to hospitals must be protected from catching other infections.

The AMAQ has not asked for a mask mandate and a Queensland Health spokesman said that it would be disproportionate to the virus risk.

“Covid has a variable impact, which is why it is best practice for individual hospitals to manage Covid risks at a local level in the interests of their staff and patients,” he said.

“As the chief health officer’s correspondence to the AMAQ shows, there is no change in this position and there are balanced and proportionate measures in place to manage the risk of Covid-19,” he said.

“It is standard practice for the Chief Health Officer to visit hospitals. As part of these visits, the CHO will be engaging with local staff to understand any concerns they may have about Covid-19 infection measures”