Robina Hospital ‘parked’ on trolleys for four hours as patients count cost of ‘bungled’ $20m hospital reno

Emergency patients at one of Queensland’s busiest public hospitals have been forced to wait hours on ambulance trolleys to see a doctor after what staff claim is a bungled renovation.

EMERGENCY patients at one of Queensland’s busiest public hospitals have been forced to wait hours on ambulance trolleys to see a doctor after what staff claim is a bungled renovation.

Sources say ambulances have been forced to queue up at Robina Hospital and arguments have erupted between paramedics and doctors amid lengthy delays in finding beds.

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Stressed patients have been shunted between wards and beds at the hospital while the $20 million facelift drags on, one whistleblower says.

The hospital has also plummeted below national targets requiring emergency patients to be treated within four hours. Dozens of frustrated patients have walked out of the emergency department in disgust, sparking a flood of complaints.

A supplied photograph of patients being ramped in the corridors of the PA Hospital. Complaints have now arisen of similar incidents at Robina Hospital.

A source said the problems began when a busy 24-bed medical ward was transferred to the Gold Coast University Hospital late last year so each ward at Robina could be renovated.

“Then, the bed blocks started occurring as the patient numbers presenting to Robina did not ever reduce,” the source said.

“Although excess patients were being sent by ambulance from the MAU (medical assessment unit) to the Gold Coast University Hospital, this causes a significant use of taxpayers money as it is not free to use ambulance transfers to transfer patients.

“Paramedics were ramping up corridors in the emergency department, as one of the medical wards no longer existed.

“There were patients waiting up to eight hours on trolleys in Emergency just to be seen by a doctor.”

The source said national targets requiring 80 per cent of emergency patients to be seen within four hours had fallen as low as 49 per cent at Robina, sparking 15 formal complaints in one week alone.

A chronic medical bed shortage meant emergency patients were being ‘shuttled’ between beds and surgical wards ‘causing anxiety among patients and relatives alike’.

“Morale among medical staff is low, as they do not feel their concerns are being listened to,” the source said.

Gold Coast Health conceded there had been problems after a new emergency department system was trialled late last year before being quickly scrapped, and admission target figures had since rebounded above 70 per cent.

The health service said records indicated the longest a patient had waited on an ambulance trolley in November and December was four-and-a-half hours though this was an exception, with most waiting an average of 25 minutes.

A chronic medical bed shortage meant emergency patients were being ‘shuttled’ between beds and surgical wards ‘causing anxiety among patients and relatives alike’.

A spokeswoman said a basic upgrade of Robina had initially been considered but it was decided to undertake a major refurbishment, including a new electronic medical record system, to modernise the hospital.

The renovation, due for completion in September, was ‘çurrently running to plan’.

“As an extremely busy health service, there was never going to be a quiet period in which to complete the complex program of works,” the spokeswoman said.

“We’ve done our best to schedule works to minimise the impact of renovations on patients, staff and visitors, and we’re grateful to our staff for continuing to provide outstanding care.

Gold Coast emergency departments have experienced unprecedented demand, driven in part by population growth, and this has an impact on bed availability in our hospitals.”