Rockhampton Base Hospital’s elective surgery data worse than state average

Shadow Health Minister Ros Bates called it a “health crisis”, but Health Minister Yvette D’Ath said most urgent cases were attended to promptly.

Rockhampton Base Hospital's Emergency Department. Photo: File

Shadow Health Minister Ros Bates has pointed to a “health crisis” at Rockhampton Hospital, where nearly one in five elective surgery patients are not going under the knife within the clinically recommended time frame.

Health Minister Yvette D’Ath, however, said there has been a “significant reduction” in waitlists, and urgent cases were being attended to promptly.

The latest Queensland Health data shows that at Rockhampton Base Hospital in the first quarter of this year, 18.8 per cent of elective surgery patients were not treated within clinically recommended times, compared with the state average of 13.4 per cent.

Rockhampton Hospital accounted for 1,570 of the 55,388 Queenslanders waiting for surgery.

At Rockhampton’s emergency department, 48 per cent of patients were not transferred off-stretcher within 30 minutes, a figure 10 per cent higher than the state average.

Ms Bates said the statistics showed a “blow out” in surgery wait times.

“These aren’t just numbers on a spreadsheet, these are honest Queenslanders desperate for surgery,” she said.

“The embattled health minister can’t fix ambulance ramping, surgery wait times are getting worse, and the culture within Queensland Health has hit rock bottom.

“As a nurse and former hospital administrator, I know how frustrating it is for our frontline staff who are under-resourced and under-appreciated by the state government.”

She said the LNP’s plans would provide more beds, better triaging, and real-time data monitoring.

Health and Ambulance Services Minister Yvette D’Ath said category 1 and category 2 elective surgeries were done punctually during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Less urgent procedures were suspended during this period, as agreed by National Cabinet,” she said.

“Despite the massive disruption caused by COVID 19, our direct investment into elective surgery has returned our performance to that pre-COVID level.

“In 2020-21, 94 per cent of category 1 Queenslanders referred to a public hospital for an elective surgery were treated within clinically recommended times.”

She said the State Government was committed to a sustainable health system, and that at the moment, there were disruptions to health care across the country.

“The 2021-22 budget reinforces our commitment to the sustainability of our health system, and that includes $482.5 million of new funding to support the delivery of health services, including elective surgery,” Ms D’Ath said.

“In 2020, the Palaszczuk Government delivered an extra $250 million for an elective surgery blitz.

“Over the last 12 months there has been a significant reduction in long elective surgery waits.”