Qld’s largest hospital in emergency ‘code yellow’ for 20 days straight

The Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital activated a ‘code yellow’ internal emergency alarm that lasted for 20 days straight last year.

Queensland’s largest public hospital activated a ‘code yellow’ for 20 days straight last year as the southeast grappled with the Covid-19 pandemic.

New data has revealed at least 117 of the internal emergencies were recorded across the state’s public hospitals during 2021 with multiple facilities experiencing alarms that lasted days.

The new code yellow figures not only relate to capacity-related issues but may also represent fire alarm faults, staff shortages and severe weather events.

The Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital activated 14 between January 1 and December 31, including one in August that lasted 495 hours – or almost 21 days.

This was due to staff shortages during the Indooroopilly Covid-19 cluster that saw many staff furloughed.

Hospitals with the longest consecutive code yellows included Cairns Base Hospital, Rockhampton Base Hospital, Gladstone Hospital, Hervey Bay Hospital and Maryborough Hospital which recorded seven days, six days, seven days, seven days and seven days respectively.

The figures follow revelations in The Sunday-Mail at the weekend that 57 capacity-related code yellows had been recorded in 76 days across the state this year.

A long line-up for Covid testing at the Royal Brisbane and Womens hospital last year. Picture: John Gass

The Opposition has seized upon the figures, with Leader David Crisafulli saying it was time for the state government to “start listening and fix the Queensland Health Crisis.”

“Our health system is in crisis with code yellows issued every week as dozens of ambulances are ramped outside our hospitals across the state,” he said.

Opposition health spokeswoman Ros Bates claimed Queensland Health was in “crisis” long before the pandemic.

In an answer to a question on notice, where the new figures were revealed, Health Minister Yvette D’Ath said a code yellow was not cause for alarm in the community, but rather an internal emergency activation for health facilities that allowed hospitals to allocate and prioritise resources.

“Calling a code yellow is a responsible measure taken by hospitals, often due to external pressures beyond the control of the hospital, and will often be called in the early stages, rather than waiting for the peak pressure point to ensure a co-ordinated response and allocation of resources that maintains health care to the community,” she said.

“Hospitals routinely activate code yellows for capacity or other internal events such as disruption to telephone services, disruption to electricity, water, information communication and technology systems, structural damage, and incidents involving hazardous substances.”

A Queensland Health spokeswoman said between a sustained Covid-19 wave, severe weather events like heatwaves and flooding, and record emergency department growth, the state’s public hospitals had experienced significant challenges during the past two years.