No plans in CQHHS vision for Gladstone ICU

CQHHS 2030 vision does not contain the words “Gladstone Hospital Intensive Care Unit.”

Gladstone Hospital, August 21, 2020. Picture Rodney Stevens

THE REGION’S peak health body has no current plans between today and 2030 to establish an Intensive Care Unit in Gladstone.

Local doctors have told The Observer it is essential to have an Intensive Care Unit and larger, safe operating theatres in Gladstone, for the hospital to be upgraded to a level four facility.

Currently Gladstone Hospital is operating as a level three facility, which only permits operations of a limited complexity, by sufficiently qualified doctors to be conducted locally.

The Gladstone Observer has been told by local doctors Gladstone Hospital was doing level four surgeries, by highly skilled specialists, until May, 2019.

That was when the Central Queensland Hospital and Health Service (CQHHS) stopped level four procedures.

This resulted in Gladstone Hospital and the CQHHS losing some of its most talented and qualified specialists, who moved on to other health services in Australia or overseas, a local doctor who asked not to be named said.

Dr Dilip Kumar and CQHHS CEO Steve Williamson at the opening of the new Gladstone Hospital emergency department on August 5, 2020.

These specialists included Dr Stefaan De Clercq, a highly skilled general surgeon, his wife Els who was a general practitioner, and Dr Anthony Eidan, the former director of anaesthetics.

“The hospital was doing so well that people came from Rockhampton to Gladstone for specialist surgery,” the doctor said.

“The biggest problem for Gladstone Hospital is Rockhampton Hospital and that the CQHHS is Rockhampton-based.

“CQHHS vision 2030 is for Rockhampton to be ‘a centre of excellence’ and Gladstone to be ‘a centre of emergency care’.

“So where does that leave the people of Gladstone who will have to travel away from their home town for any specialist surgery?”

Without a level four hospital, Gladstone lacks the ability to entice any specialists to move to the region, the doctor said.

When Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk toured the Gladstone Hospital’s new emergency department in July, The Observer asked questions about an ICU which she was unable to answer.

Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk inspects the new $42 million Gladstone Hospital emergency department with MP Glenn Butcher and Director of Nursing Sandy Munro.

Regional Queensland and Manufacturing Minister, Gladstone MP Glenn Butcher, stepped in and answered the questions on the premier’s behalf.

Mr Butcher said planning and establishing the ICU would take some time, but would be delivered by 2030.

“We are going to put out a road map, which will put in place what those steps are, on how we get to an ICU and a stage four hospital.

“Queensland Health has said all the way along, Gladstone will get to the stage four hospital that it deserves.

“But we also need the growth of patients and people in the Gladstone region as well.

“We will make sure that we get to stage four, over a period of time.

“The Central Queensland Hospital and Health Service has set a road map till 2030.

“I would envisage that the road map for this hospital matches that vision.”

CQHHS board members and hospital staff at the opening of the new Gladstone Hospital emergency department on August 5, 2020.

CQHHS states the population catchment for Gladstone Hospital is 70,000 people.

The population of Central Queensland in 2018, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, was 225,561 people.

This is the CQHHS vision Destination 2030: Great care for Central Queensland.

On page three of the 2030 vision, which is signed off by CQHHS chairman Paul Bell and chief executive Steve Williamson, it states “We will deliver expert care close to home.”

This will be achieved “by investing in an extensive range of specialist services at Rockhampton Hospital for all Central Queenslanders.”

Then the vision states CQHHS will “deliver comprehensive general hospital services at Gladstone Hospital for Gladstone and Banana communities.”

PREMIER Annastacia Palaszczuk and Gladstone MP Glenn Butcher meet local nurse Liz Bellas in the new Gladstone Hospital $42 million emergency department.

While the 32-page document is full of photos, coloured graphics and statements of “by 2030”, the words “Gladstone Hospital Intensive Care Unit” or “Gladstone Hospital ICU” do not exist in the vision.

Today the CQHHS said in a statement the current hospital services it provided were sufficient for Central Queensland.

The CQHHS did not specifically answer a question from The Observer about whether Gladstone Hospital being “a centre for emergency care” included an ICU being established and when it would be established.

“Central Queensland is currently well serviced by our regional ICU.”

“Longer term plans for an ICU in Gladstone will be developed when there is sufficient demand for safe and sustainable services.”

“Development of an ICU is driven by demand which impacts on the safety of the unit, the ability for staff to maintain their currency of practice and the ability to recruit to the unit.”

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