Editorial: Qld taxpayers justified in being angry over health debacle
Queensland Health is in desperate need of an overhaul. Is it time for the Premier to ditch the Olympics portfolio and instead take on the health ministry, asks the editor.
Opinion
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The problems inside this state’s health system are systemic and Queensland Health is in desperate need of an overhaul or, at the very least, a significant change in direction.
This newspaper last week broke the heartbreaking story of how 20 people had died in cases where hospital ramping and staff shortages had resulted in unacceptable ambulance delays.
Since then revelations have continued, including the tragic story of a Brisbane man found dead in his driveway after an ambulance arrived four hours after the man made a desperate call for help.
We have a DNA debacle in our health laboratories affecting potentially thousands of crimes because samples were not tested due to changes in testing thresholds.
That problem is a betrayal of victims of crime and a threat to community safety – there may well be serious offenders who should be in jail but are free.
At the Caboolture Hospital north of Brisbane, 12 possible cases of malpractice are under investigation with one death due to malpractice already confirmed.
In Mackay, women involved in harrowing incidents in the hospital’s obstetrics department are being offered compensation deals as the public is kept in the dark about the findings of a report into what has been going wrong at that hospital.
And in today’s Sunday Mail, we learn that a urologist found to have committed malpractice interstate was permitted to continue working at Mackay when he would otherwise have been suspended, in part because there was no one else available in North Queensland to do the job.
Why all this is happening is not absolutely clear, but what is clear is that billions of dollars continue to be made available to run health departments.
We are not a poor state, nor for that matter a poor nation.
We may face huge demographic pressures on health systems partly from ageing populations.
But when taxpayers see governments that are incapable of organising a health system that responds promptly to a triple-0 ambulance call, or provides safe hospital environments for surgery, they are justified in getting angry.
As opposition health spokeswoman Ros Bates pointed out this week, it appears as if the government has no solutions to the present crisis.
As Ms Bates said, this state needs honesty and transparency so that the public know exactly what is happening in their hospitals
We note that Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk appointed herself Olympics Minister, heading the government team overseeing planning for the 2032 event.
The Olympics are a crucial and transformational event that will put Queensland in the global spotlight, boost tourism and prompt billions of dollars of investment in this state.
Queensland can stage a successful Olympics and have a world-class health system – a competent government can deliver both.
But perhaps Ms Palaszczuk should instead leave that important role in the hands of a senior colleague.
If she wants to take personal control of a critical portfolio to deliver for Queenslanders, why wouldn’t it be the health ministry?
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