Health unions warning of reduced services in Cairns during Covid wave
As Covid-19 inevitably spreads through the Far North, unions are warning that some services will have to be put on hold as pressure on staff ramps up.
Cairns
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AS COVID-19 inevitably spreads through the Far North, unions are warning that elective surgeries will be the first service to be put on hold as pressure on staff ramps up.
Together Queensland senior vice president Dr Sandy Donald said the Cairns and Hinterland Hospital and Health Service was already operating close to its limit on a normal day – let alone with widespread Covid transmission thrown into the mix.
Likewise, the Queensland Nurses and Midwives Union said the Covid pandemic had already stretched health resources and placed enormous pressure on nurses, midwives, and other health professionals at Cairns Hospital.
Dr Donald said the best Christmas present the public could give to health staff was to help slow the spread of the virus.
“The request from everyone working in health is for people to please, when you reasonably can, avoid close contact with people indoors, and wear a face mask if you’re out,” Dr Donald said.
“If you can do something outdoors rather than indoors, that reduces the chance of spread.
“Slowing the spread will greatly ease the pressure on the health system. But I’m still thinking with dread of what happens if Covid gets into all these unvaccinated communities at the same time.”
Cairns Hospital and Health Service chief executive Tina Chinery stressed that the more people in the community who get vaccinated, the less impact there would be on the health system.
Dr Donald said the plan for dealing with Covid in Cairns required some reduction of other services.
“We’re tight on a normal day and as soon as we have any significant number of Covid admissions then I guess first will be non-urgent elective surgery, followed probably by semi-urgent elective surgery,” he said.
“And it’s a terrible thing to do to people. There are people who have spent months planning for surgery, may have relatives lined up to look after them, or family, to taking time off work, so there’s a significant cost for a lot of people in having to cancel but that is what we have to do to keep people safe.”
Dr Donald said another concern once the Covid wave hit would be managing health workers’ fatigue.
“Health needs urgent care. We need to be planning to have enough beds and services that we can give (the emergency department) some really good quiet days to recharge their batteries,” he said.
“So that’s the sort of medium term plan – that we need state and federal governments to acknowledge the health system is under too much pressure.”
QNMU assistant secretary Kate Veach said staff members at Cairns Hospital were exhausted.
“They’re now obviously increasingly concerned about the Covid surge and the expected pressure it’s going to place on the local workforce and services during the busy Christmas holiday period,” she said.
“As part of our Health Needs Urgent Care campaign, we’re calling on the Palaszczuk Government to work with us on immediate solutions to keep Queenslanders safe amid unprecedented demand on health services.
“Our health system needs urgent care so health workers can continue to provide safe, quality care that Cairns’ residents deserve.”
Ms Chinery said based on the current modelling regarding vaccination status in our community, Cairns Hospital has the resources to meet the forecast demand.
“In the past few months, significant effort has been invested in updating our Covid-19 response plans,” she said.
“Our Covid-19 response plan outlines what services we may have to suspend or change to create capacity as case numbers increase, include non-urgent elective surgery.
“However, the more people in our community that get vaccinated – the less impact there will be on our health system.”
Ms Chinery said there was significant evidence that people who have had both doses of a Covid-19 vaccination were much less likely to become seriously ill and require hospitalisation.
Originally published as Health unions warning of reduced services in Cairns during Covid wave
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