Health Minister denies waiting for ‘optimal time’ to drop crucial data

The Health Minister has adamantly denied timing the publication of the state’s hospital data for “political purposes” following accusations from the LNP

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Health Minister Shannon Fentiman has been accused of timing the publication of the state’s hospital data for “political purposes”, with July to September figures sitting unreleased.

Opposition Leader David Crisafulli claimed the Minister was waiting for the “optimal time” to release the latest data, with the last full drop of the information coming in early August.

But the Health Minister has staunchly denied any delay to the data – saying it was not true that the data was late, and information from the September quarter was normally released in mid-November.

Mr Crisafulli on Tuesday – ahead of Ms Fentiman giving a CEDA speech on the state’s health workforce – reiterated his commitment to release data in “real-time” within 100 days should he become Premier.

“It shouldn’t be the case where a government waits for its political choosing to release data,” he said.

“If you are serious about driving change, you are serious about sharing data to ensure that performance can improve.”

But Ms Fentiman promised to have the data out before the middle of November and committed to allowing journalists time to “sit with the data and be properly briefed” before she then takes questions.

“Then you can ask questions of me for as long as you want about the data,” Ms Fentiman said.

“But there’s nothing to the claim by the Opposition that this is somehow late. It is actually irresponsible of them to suggest that.”

Asked about the data in parliament last week, Ms Fentiman said “the data will be released as soon as it is ready”.

“I understand that over the last two years the quarterly data has been released in early or mid-November, so I have no idea why the opposition is pursuing this line of questioning,” she said.

Queensland Health Minister Shannon Fentiman.

The Health Minister’s regular sparring partner, LNP health spokeswoman Ros Bates, took aim when asked whether she had read a QWeekend cover story published on the weekend featuring Ms Fentiman.

“You can’t airbrush history, and Shannon Fentiman was the worst Child Safety Minister Queensland has ever seen,” she said.

“She’s like the sugar plum fairy, waving a magic wand over figures that are not getting any better.

“Swanning around, taking photos with newborn babies and elderly patients is not going to fix Queensland Health.”