Queensland public health workforce grows faster than population

THE state’s health work­force is likely to continue to grow faster than the population despite the Government’s own budget forecasts.

• Palaszczuk Government’s massive senior public servant hiring binge
• State Government’s public service bill hard to justify

THE state’s health work­force is likely to continue to grow faster than the population despite the Government’s own budget forecasts.

But Annastacia Palaszczuk’s office is sitting on a KPMG ­report that it received last year to test whether the public service hiring spree had improved services.

The Courier-Mail yesterday revealed the number of Queensland’s most senior public servants, who earn from $147,437 to $712,596, grew three times as fast as the rest of the bureaucracy in the Palaszczuk Government’s first term.

Health Minister Steven Miles said the bulk of the 30 per cent extra senior public servants were “frontline and frontline support” staff in Queensland Health, mostly doctors and other clinicians. But he suggested health staff numbers may have to continue to grow faster than the population to keep up with demand.

Ms Palaszczuk’s office last year received a KPMG report commissioned by her department to assess the growth. Her spokesman yesterday said there was no agreed time­frame for its release.

Queensland Health data shows emergency waiting times have worsened in the period the public service was bulked up.