Qld Health Minister Shannon Fentiman finds role more challenging than expected
After her first 30 days in the job, Health Minister Shannon Fentiman admits it’s more complex than she expected. And these numbers reveal why.
QLD Politics
Don't miss out on the headlines from QLD Politics. Followed categories will be added to My News.
Tackling Queensland’s health system has proved even more complex than she expected, new Health Minister Shannon Fentiman has revealed, after spending her first month in the role visiting 30 hospitals in a statewide blitz.
In an exclusive interview a month on from the state cabinet reshuffle, Ms Fentiman said she was “very clear” about her priorities – including the need to reduce ambulance ramping and getting patients off stretchers and into beds quicker.
Ms Fentiman, who has gained a reputation for addressing health crises head-on instead of ducking for cover, paid tribute to the efforts of frontline workers who she had met on her statewide tour.
She said she would address her priorities with targeted programs paid for using a $2.88bn funding injection to Queensland Health across five years to deal with growth, ramping issues, surgery wait times, women’s health and mental health.
The government has also been spruiking a separate 9.6 per cent increase to Queensland Health’s operational budget in 2023-24, though this doesn’t factor in a $1.5bn cash injection the system needed this financial year.
State budget figures revealed Queensland Health was budgeted to spend $22bn in 2022-23 but will end up spending $23.5bn – 6.8 per cent more than expected.
Ms Fentiman said it would have to be a “wait and see” if more cash was needed, and while the system was under pressure, she was confident the federal government’s own spending into primary care could take some pressure off.
Now a month into the role, Ms Fentiman candidly admitted being health minister was harder than being attorney-general, and that she needed a “glossary of terms” in the first parliamentary sitting week to help navigate healthcare language.
Asked whether the role was more complex than she had expected, Ms Fentiman replied: “Yes.
“It’s huge and challenging, but it’s also such an opportunity to do good things,” she said.
“I am actually just so amazed at the work of our frontline health workers each and every day.
“And it has been a real privilege to meet them and to see the work that they do.”
Ms Fentiman said tragic incidents in the health system were often highlighted, but a lot of “incredibly good work” happened behind the scenes.
And a never-before-seen snapshot of Queensland Health, provided to The Sunday Mail, has revealed what a day in the life of the public health system looks like.
The data for April reveals a typical day includes 100,000 staff spread across the state, 6113 people showing up at emergency departments, 3092 triple-0 calls for an ambulance, 127 babies born and 24,950 people receiving community mental health care.
Ms Fentiman had flagged, on her first day on the job, five priorities: reducing ambulance ramping, wait times for emergency care and surgery, boosting women’s health and boosting mental health care.
She said “success” on the ramping front would be when patient off-stretcher times “head in the right direction” compared to a similar time period in previous years.
The budget included $764m to reduce ramping, including a $13m program to make it easier to discharge patients at the weekend by rostering on more allied health workers on those days.
Ms Fentiman was adamant she had so far found Queensland Health, a bureaucratic behemoth extending across 16 hospital and health services, to be “responsive”.
“I think I’ve been really clear about my priorities, and about listening and working collaboratively with frontline health workers and key stakeholders,” she said.
“And I think as minister that so you just really need to … make no apologies for setting that agenda.”
BY THE NUMBERS
AN AVERAGE DAY FOR QUEENSLAND HEALTH INCLUDES:
776 women screened for breast cancer through BreastScreen Queensland Services
74,000 tests completed by Pathology Queensland laboratories
127 babies born in public hospitals
1701 people attend an initial outpatient appointment in public hospitals
6113 people present at an emergency department
12,891people receive care as an inpatient in public hospitals
2334 dental appointments provided to adults
922 dental appointments provided to children
997 callers given professional advice through the 13 HEALTH hotline
24,950 people receive community mental health care
3092 calls made to triple-0 for ambulance assistance
3890 ambulance responses to incidents
9605 people receive care from community alcohol and other drug services
More Coverage
Join the conversation
‘Callous cover-up’: LNP explodes over delayed hospital report
Delays in Queensland Health releasing a damning report into Redland Hospital smacks of a “callous, calculated” cover-up, the LNP claims as it enters the final week of election campaigning.
Read more
15 reforms but no result: Political challenge as house builds hit critical low
The number of homes being built in Queensland has hit the lowest level in a decade – two years on from a state government housing summit that was supposed to fix the problem.
Read more