Qld hospitals frequently at breaking point, new website reveals

Queensland’s parliament has descended into a ferocious debate over an LNP MP’s alleged attack on regional healthcare staff amid new bombshell data on hospital performance.

• Editor’s view: Proof transparency works

Queensland’s parliament has descended into a ferocious debate with Health Minister Shannon Fentiman and regular sparring partner LNP health spokeswoman Ros Bates going toe-to-toe over Facebook comments made by a fellow MP.

Ms Fentiman seized on comments allegedly made by LNP member Stephen Bennett on Facebook about health workers, saying “Late on Monday night (Mr Bennett) was very busy on his Facebook page – never a good thing for a member of parliament, I would say – attacking and undermining the Bundaberg Hospital”.

She claimed in response to a local grandmother in the community, he made a comment on his Facebook page.

“The local grandmother said to Mr Bennett – ‘hang on, my granddaughter works there. No crisis? Why the fuss Stephen? Is it because that small man told you to target Health?’,” Ms Fentiman said.

Queensland Health Minister Shannon Fentiman speaks during Question Time at Parliament House in Brisbane. Picture: Dan Peled / NCA NewsWire

“The member for Burnett did not like that one bit. In response he said – … you are part of the problem … time we broke the back of unrealistic employee entitlements.”

“Clearly, the LNP are determined to return to the ways of the Campbell Newman years, when thousands of nurses and midwives were sacked across Queensland.

“Stephen Bennett should apologise today. David Crisafulli and Ros Bates need to explain why their backbenchers are publicly boasting about ‘breaking the back’ of healthcare worker entitlements.”

But Ms Bates fired back accusing the Health Minister – who she has dubbed “photo-op Fentiman” – of failing to do her job and spending too much time worrying about whether she would be Premier.

In an open letter she read out in parliament during the debate, Ms Bates said “I suggest you spend more time fixing the Queensland Health Crisis that you are overseeing and less time leaking to the media against Premier Palaszczuk because you want her job”.

“Your desperate attempts to spread fear and distract from your own failings are quickly becoming your calling card,” she said.

“For the sake of Queenslanders who rely on our health system, please concentrate on the job you have.”

Other members also weighed in on the fiery debate, including Opposition Leader David Crisafulli, Moggil MP Dr Christian Rowan and Cairns MP Michael Healy.

Member for Mudgeeraba Ros Bates and Queensland opposition leader David Crisafulli during the State Parliament Estimates in Brisbane.

It comes as Queensland’s major hospitals have hit breaking point, unable to adequately service patient needs at least 156 times in a three-month period, bombshell new data has revealed for the first time.

The shocking state of the state’s healthcare is laid bare in the government’s revamped hospital performance website.

A Courier-Mail analysis of the data shows nearly all key facilities were escalated to tier 3 – which means hospital capacity is limited or exhausted – more than 10 times between April and June for an average of 45.5 hours across the state.

The figures reveal the state’s hospitals were at tier 3 for a total of about 7000 hours – which suggests that over the 90-day period at any moment at least three hospitals were in that extreme category.

The president of the Australian Medical Association Queensland Maria Boulton has called the number of escalations “distressing”.

Hospitals from Cairns to the Gold Coast have hit tier 3 multiple times in a period of a few weeks. Rockhampton Base Hospital was escalated 15 times, Mackay Base 14 and Townsville University 13 times.

The Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital had six escalations for an average of 34 hours, and The Prince Charles Hospital 10 for an average of 43 hours and 41 minutes, and the Gold Coast University Hospital hit the top tier 11 times for an average of 54 hours and 23 minutes.

Tiers are rated from 0 to 3 to outline measures that can be implemented to cope with capacity problems.

The top tier is introduced when all capacity has been exhausted and there is limited opportunity to meet the needs of the local community.

Surgery may be cancelled and some patients can be transferred to private facilities.

Health Minister Shannon Fentiman launched the new-look, updated Hospital Performance website last month saying then it would include tier 3 escalations to show her commitment to transparency.

In a question on notice tabled through state parliament to past health minister Yvette D’Ath in April, the government stated tier 3 data was not reported monthly and to “extract, collate and fact-check would require an unreasonable diversion of the department’s resources”.

Dr Boulton praised Ms Fentiman for making the tier 3 information available but said the health system cannot rely on the altruism and dedication of overworked staff to prop up healthcare.

“We need to ensure hospitals are properly resourced to cope, not just with emergency presentations, but all the other work of hospitals – outpatient appointments, elective surgeries, diabetes clinics, fracture clinics etc,” she said.

“(Tier 3) is unfortunately becoming business as usual for too many of our hospitals.

“It’s distressing but not surprising that our hospitals are stretched.”

Dr Boulton said an early flu season and a spike in RSV added to the strain on services.

“We had almost 65,000 reported cases of influenza this year – almost three times as many as the past five-year average,” she said.

“We have had 4910 people hospitalised with influenza this year and 3500 with RSV. Those are hospital beds taken up that other patients can’t access. Our doctors, nurses and hospital workers are only human and they get sick too. This affects the available workforce.”

Ms Fentiman said the government was committed to providing efficient, transparent information.

“While we know many of our health services are under pressure, hospital demand is not planned, and tier 3 escalations are internal measures to assist hospitals with directing resources where they are needed most to ensure our hospitals continue to support patients and provide free, urgent medical treatment,” she said.

“We know long-stay patients are putting enormous pressure on our emergency departments and I have raised this issue with the Commonwealth Health Minister.

“The process of safely transitioning long-stay patients to the community has significant resource implications for Queensland Health and I have committed to working with the Commonwealth to find sustainable solutions to see these patients transition from hospital as soon as possible.”

She said the Palaszczuk Government had committed more than $760m in this year’s budget to invest in frontline services and staff.

“We continue working hard to meet growing demands and remain focused on keeping Queenslanders out of hospitals, through … alternatives to EDs, like our satellite hospitals, supercharging virtual care, providing more hospital beds and establishing more transit care lounges,” she said.

Almost 600,000 people presented at the state's emergency departments in the three months between April and June. The AMAQ chief said hospitals needed to make it easier to discharge patients at night and on weekends, to free up beds.

“We need a statewide health workforce strategy that pinpoints where the shortages are, not just in our public hospitals but in private hospitals, general practice, pharmacies and other allied healthcare workers,” Dr Boulton said.

Opposition health spokeswoman Ros Bates said the numbers were “scary” for anyone relying on the health system. Despite Ms Fentiman revealing tier 3 escalations were included on the website for the first time, Ms Bates said the LNP had got more detailed health information Ms D’Ath.

“But Shannon Fentiman has put a stop to that,” she said. “Now all Queenslanders get are headline numbers because Fentiman only cares about how she looks in the media.”