Barnaby Joyce says burns unit needed for Gladstone Hospital as Labor slams federal cuts to GPs

After consecutive days in the electorate of Flynn making announcements for the Coalition, Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce says locals are telling him the region needs a burns unit and a better hospital. Full details here.

Gladstone’s industrial workforce needs a burns unit closer to home, according to the Coalition, but Labor has hit back saying what Central Queenslanders really need is more GPs.

While visiting the electorate of Flynn this week, Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce said local employees in the industrial and health sector had told him that a burns unit was needed in the region given the heightened risk of workplace related injuries.

Currently, there are two specialist burns units in Queensland – one for adults and another for children – but both are based in Brisbane, hundreds of kilometres from much of the state’s dispersed resource industries.

Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce joined Colin Boyce and Regional Health Minister Dr David Gillespie at CQU earlier this week. Picture: Supplied

Mr Joyce said Gladstone Hospital’s status as a Level 3 facility was “ridiculous for the city it supports”.

“I say to Premier Palaszczuk and the Queensland Labor Government, get a burns unit for Gladstone,” Mr Joyce said.

“When that Callide boiler blew, no burns unit here, where are those people going to go … luckily, we were blessed we didn’t have a tragedy but burns hurt, they hurt a lot,” he said.

“To think that for an industrial city, that the State Government doesn’t have a burns unit but has the hide to take the royalties from here just goes to show you that in some instances that’s disgraceful.”

A level 3 hospital on the Queensland framework provides low to moderate risk care delivered primarily by GPs but not necessarily on site and does not have an intensive care unit.

Following Mr Joyce’s comments, Queensland Regional Development Minister and Gladstone MP, Glenn Butcher, hit back saying what the region really needed was more bulk-billing GPs for the growing population.

“If the LNP really cared about Gladstone, or Queensland, they wouldn’t have cut more than $20 million from our hospitals next year,” Mr Butcher said.

Gladstone Regional Council Mayor and Labor candidate for Flynn, Matt Burnett alongside Queensland Minister Glenn Butcher. Picture: Supplied

“If Barnaby Joyce really cared, he should get on the phone to the Prime Minister and Treasurer and ask for Queensland’s fair share,” he said.

“Barnaby Joyce is only in Gladstone, in a futile attempt to try and hold onto the seat of Flynn.”

It is understood a specialised clinical service, such as a burns unit, requires a certain level of patient activity for on-site clinicians to maintain their skill and qualification.

Member for Gladstone Glenn Butcher said what the Port City really needed was funding from the federal government for more bulk-billing GPs. Picture: Aden Stokes

Central Queensland Hospital and Health Service Chief Executive, Dr Emma McCahon, said Gladstone Hospital had highly trained emergency physicians and nurses who could link with burns specialists via telehealth.

“With advice from those specialists, our team can start the best treatment options early and stabilise patients while retrieval to a specialist burns unit is organised, Dr McCahon said.

It comes as the Coalition pledged $1.9m to establishing a satellite telehealth for radiation oncology services at Gladstone Hospital.