Qld health system underfunded, outdated, say experts

Tragic ambulance delays hitting Queensland are just one “symptom” of a health system that has not been properly funded or modernised “this century”, health experts have warned

Tragic ambulance delays hitting Queensland are just one “symptom” of a health system that has not been properly funded or modernised “this century”, health experts have warned, describing the situation on the ground as the worst it has ever been.

AMAQ president Dr Maria Boulton says a “whole-of-system fix” is needed. Picture: Supplied

An explosive Queensland Ambulance dossier has revealed at least 21 people died and seven revived in cases where paramedics stretched by hospital delays and surging workloads did not turn up in time.

But major health bodies, including the Australian College of Emergency Medicine (ACEM), the Australian Medical Association Queensland (AMAQ) and the Australian College of Nursing (ACN), said the underlying cause was an underfunded health system in dire need of reform for decades.

ACEM Queensland deputy chair Dr Shantha Raghwan said the demands on healthcare services were greater than ever, but the “growth and investment” had not kept pace with the demand for it.

The QAS Significant Incident Review files revealed paramedics were often faced with “extreme hospital delays”, wasting hundreds of collective hours waiting outside emergency departments for beds to become available.

Ramping is a “flow-on effect” of pain elsewhere in the health system, says ACEM Queensland deputy chair Dr Shantha Raghwan. Picture: AAP

But the ramping itself is a “flow-on effect” of pain elsewhere in the system.

“So what we have is a whole bunch of patients who are remaining in hospital, we’ve got sicker patients, we’ve got more patients, but also patients remaining in hospital because the services in the community and outside of hospital are not available,” Dr Raghwan said.

“It’s all a flow-on effect, and we’re looking at symptoms, but the underlying cause is really an entire system that needs to be rejigged and … heavily invested in order to provide the resources required.”

AMAQ president Dr Maria Boulton said a “whole-of-system fix” that was sustainable and looked to the long-term was needed.

ACN chief executive Kylie Ward said the tragedies coming out of the health system were an “indictment” of outdated state and federal funding models.

“We really went into this century and didn’t modernise, with where the professions are at, what the population needs, an ageing population (and) workforce,” Adjunct Professor Ward said.

And the situation is becoming untenable as health professionals working in “disaster” conditions for years, even before Covid-19, start to leave the sector due to burn out.

Dr Raghwan said it was the “worst that it has ever been” and she feared senior nursing colleagues were leaving the profession in such numbers that the loss of their institutional knowledge may be felt “for generations to come”.

Dr Boulton said medical health care workers were under such stress “they’re all terrified they’re going to make a mistake, because of all the work they’re having to do” and that it was unsustainable.