Bundaberg Hospital Covid testing clinic closes early after five hour wait time

Bundaberg Covid testing clinics continue to struggle with large turnouts as the region records another spike in cases over Christmas and Boxing Day. Here is what the service had to say:

A Bundaberg Covid testing clinic already struggling with massive crowds on Christmas Eve was forced to close its gates before midday on Boxing Day, drawing the ire of residents who called the situation “madness”.

The Bundaberg Hospital fever clinic has struggled to cope with demand for Covid testing since Christmas Eve, but the situation has grown more stressful as the clinic closed its gates before midday on Boxing Day and reportedly turned people away from 8.30am.

The clinic is the only one open in the region on public holidays.

It comes as Bundaberg recorded the highest number of new Covid cases in the Wide Bay over Christmas and Boxing Day.

NewsMail reached out to the Wide Bay Health and Hospital Service (WBHHS) for comment, but were instead referred to a Facebook post from Sunday morning where news of the gates closing was shared.

Cars were turned away at the Bundaberg Hospital fever clinic by Police on Christmas Eve after a surge in close contact sites.

“Our Bundaberg Testing Clinic gate had to close the gate earlier as the lines are now five hours plus, which goes beyond our closing times,” they wrote.

The post said the clinic had rostered additional staff and doubled their testing capacity to cope with the crowds.

But it was not enough to cope with the growing demand.

The clinic reopened at 8am on Monday morning, but the WBHHS recommended anyone seeking a test should arrive early to secure a place in line.

The news of the clinic closing early was met with frustration from residents on Facebook, who expressed their thoughts on social media.

Jayde Hall said she understood clinic staff were overwhelmed, but the situation was “not good enough”.

“When will you open more testing clinics? The community cannot continue this madness,” she wrote.

The Health and Hospital Service responded to the comment and said the number of staff and testing capabilities had increased since December 23.

“At Bundaberg we had been doing less than 50 tests a day, but in the last four days we‘ve averaged more than 400 a day,” they said.

Lisa Beach said she was in line to be tested since 7.45am on Sunday morning, and the clinic was forced to turn people away from as early as 8.30am.

She said she thought it was “crazy” how under resourced the clinic was considering Bundaberg’s population.

Bundaberg recorded 49 new Covid cases on Boxing Day, which increased the region’s total to 120 active cases.