Gympie resident starts e-petition after hospital closes clinic

A Gympie woman who broke her wrist and experienced first hand what happens to patients forced to deal with a Sunshine Coast hospital if their bones are broken has launched an e-petition against the systemic loss of services at the Gympie Hospital - most recently the fracture clinic.

A 66-year-old Mothar Mountain woman has started an e-petition against the systemic reduction of services at the Gympie Hospital in the wake of the sudden shock closure of the hospital’s fracture clinic.

The Sunshine Coast Hospital and Health Service confirmed on Friday, June 3 that the fracture clinic had been closed because of staffing issues.

It will stay closed, and patients sent to Noosa or the Sunshine Coast University Hospital, until skilled health workers can be recruited to staff it.

Helen Miguel launched the e-petition protesting the continual loss of services at 5pm on Tuesday. The petition is sponsored by MP Tony Perrett, who has labelled the latest closure evidence that the public health service in Gympie is in crisis.

Ms Miguel has lived in Gympie for 26 years and says she feels very passionate about the community.

There had been a significant reduction of services at Gympie Hospital and locals should have a right to health services, she said on Wednesday.

“It is a major health issue in this community,” she said.

Ms Miguel broke her wrist after slipping on the grass at a local dog park. After receiving a temporary cast at Gympie Hospital, she scheduled an appointment at the fracture clinic for Wednesday, June 8.

She received a text message the following Monday that her appointment was cancelled and she must contact Sunshine Coast University Hospital for a new appointment.

She was on hold for 45 minutes before being asked to leave a message.

Ms Miguel was later referred to a private orthopaedic specialist by her GP to receive further treatment for her wrist.

This came at a considerable cost and Ms Miguel noted that many people would not be able to pay for private services.

She said that elderly, sick or simply busy people could not just drop everything for a trip to SCUH or Noosa.

“We need to speak up,” Ms Miguel said.

When she contacted Mr Perrett about the shut down, he was furious and immediately offered his support and sponsorship for the e-petition.

The Gympie Hospital has lost its fracture clinic.

Mr Perrett said on Friday he had been contacted by three people who had tried to attend the clinic only to be told it had been shut.

“What is more contemptible is that for some the Health Department actually rang and booked their appointment at the clinic,” Mr Perrett said.

“The health system is in crisis in Queensland – and it is in crisis in Gympie.

“We are constantly having services close down. The closure of the Fracture Clinic follows the fiasco caused by the closure of the paediatric ward last year. No one is told anything.”

The Gympie Hospital children’s ward was closed down for several months in 2021 and only reopened after a petition was tabled in parliament and a sustained campaign of protest from the community and The Gympie Times.

A SCHHS spokesperson said on Friday the health service “shares the community’s concerns regarding the need to ensure appropriate medical cover at the Gympie Fracture clinic, and would like to reassure the community it remains committed to providing high quality, safe, patient centred care at Gympie Hospital”.

Gympie fracture clinic patients will be referred to the Sunshine Coast University Hospital or Noosa until the clinic reopens.

“The Clinical Nurse and Medical Officer Orthopaedics reviewed all patients impacted by this change and the Ambulatory Care Team, then communicated with all affected patients,” the spokesperson said.

“Patients were on-referred to other SCHHS facilities, or to community partner, Primary Care Fracture Clinic at Ochre Health Noosa.

“Historically, regional areas have found it challenging to recruit and retain skilled health workers. This has been further impacted by COVID-19, and is not unique to the Sunshine Coast region.

“We are urgently facilitating locum arrangements and recruitment options, and remain committed to filling the vacancies at the Gympie Fracture clinic.

“We apologise all patients, families and carers impacted by the temporary decision.”

Mr Perrett said it seemed the State Government was “deliberately running down services at the Gympie Hospital”.

“How is it on Monday you can be given an appointment for a service, told to have an Xray beforehand and bring it to the clinic, to then be told to drive with a broken limb more than 100km away?” he said.

He said the Master Clinical Services Plan identified that the facilities at Gympie Hospital were “old and not fit for purpose with services fragmented and spread across multiple buildings”.

“It recommended preparing a business plan for a new hospital on a new site,” he said.

“The only business plan seems to be to close services with no warning to the public. This is a systemic problem.

On every measure the problems have been there for years. You can’t not provide services at the hospital.

“Right across the board services are under stress and patients transferred or told to go to the Sunshine Coast.

“When I’ve raised issues about closed services, I receive evasive answers. In some cases, services are removed altogether, and no one finds out until they notice a change in what’s provided or a loss of service.

“We’ve had issues in the paediatric ward, ambulance ramping, emergency department, contraction of services in obstetrics and gynaecology and orthopaedics.

“Now we have the closure of orthopaedic services.

“These should be frontline services, often the first experience on going to a hospital.”