Qld hospital crisis: Bed numbers decline in eight months to May

Queensland was already struggling with a sick hospital system made worse by Covid-19, now new figures have painted an even more damning picture.

About one in five Queensland hospitals cut their bed numbers in the eight months to May, with some health facilities losing more than 15 beds.

Queensland Health has blamed a lack of staff due to Covid-19 for the cutbacks, saying staff availability plays a significant role in determining how many beds can be made available.

According to figures tabled in Parliament by Health Minister Yvette D’Ath, available beds at 24 of the state’s 107 hospitals went backwards between September 29, 2021, and May 25, 2022.

On September 29 last year, there were 239 beds at the QEII Hospital, but by May 25 the number of available beds at the Brisbane hospital was down to 217.

At Dalby Hospital, available beds went from 43 to 28 between those same two dates, while at Kingaroy Hospital the bed availability went from 73 to 45.

Redland Hospital’s available beds went from 199 to 190, while at the Gold Coast University Hospital there was a reduction of nine available beds, reducing the total count to 921.

Overall across the state, total bed availability numbers increased by 0.5 per cent from 12,702 on September 29 last year to 12,769 by May 25.

A Queensland Health spokeswoman said the number of available beds was “constantly changing”, flexing up or down according to demand, with staff availability playing a role.

“On 29 September, 2021, Queensland Health reported one new case of Covid-19 and was not capturing any data related to staff furloughing as it was not an issue at the time,” she said.

“Comparatively, on 25 May, 2021, we reported 5584 new Covid-19 cases and 1575 furloughed staff due to Covid-19.”

Opposition Leader David Crisafulli seized on the figures to accuse the government of making the jobs of frontline staff more difficult at a time when they were facing “more pressure than ever”.

“They publicly said they were doing all they could to fix the health system, but behind closed doors they were removing beds from many already-overstretched hospitals,” he said.

“We will continue to shine a light on the problems facing patients and health professionals until the state government admits its failures and accepts responsibility to heal the health crisis.”

The Queensland Health spokeswoman claimed it would be inaccurate to suggest bed availability numbers were related to the number of new public beds brought online during that period, pointing to the impact of furloughed staff.