Seven wards full of Covid patients: Hospital pushed to brink as peak nears

A major hospital in Queensland’s hardest hit Covid region has seven dedicated wards full of Covid patients as it ramps up the health response with the Omicron peak ‘just days away'.

The Gold Coast’s major hospital is being pushed to the brink as the Omicron wave peaks in the city with seven dedicated Covid wards packed with patients.

Health Minister Yvette D’Ath explained how the health response was unfolding with the Gold Coast just ‘days away’ from reaching its Omicron peak – the first region in Queensland to do so.

She and chief health officer Dr John Gerrard visited the Gold Coast University Hospital on Wednesday where the pair commended the hard work of staff who were dealing with the ‘largest number of cases’ across the state at the moment.

“They (hospital staff) told me anecdotally in their testing clinics next door, they’re seeing about 70 per cent of people coming forward as positive,” Ms D’Ath said.

“We’ve got seven dedicated wards out of about 25 general wards in the Gold Coast University Hospital that are managing one disease, Covid,” she said.

“It just shows you just how contagious this virus is.”

A hospital triage tent at Gold Coast University Hospital which has helped reduce ambulance ramping times. Picture: NIGEL HALLETT

The Gold Coast was the first to be smashed by the Omicron wave as thousands of interstate travellers flooded into the tourist destination.

The city has been hit with more than 35,000 cases – second only to Brisbane which has had 57,000 cases.

Hospitalisations continue to increase as the wave heads toward peaking with 850 people now in hospital across the state including 48 in ICU and 20 on ventilators.

Medical staff are now seeing “significant” improvements in patient and ambulance wait times thanks to temporary tents set up to triage Covid patients outside emergency departments.

“The supervising paramedic told me yesterday that they’re seeing two thirds of a decrease in lost time from the ambulances offloading those patients because of the new system we’ve implemented on the ground,” Ms D’Ath said.