Logan birthing needs greater than Redlands
Questions have been raised over planned upgrades to Redland Hospital as pressure mounts for Queensland Health to deliver a facility that better meets the needs of the community.
Redlands Coast
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The Australian Medical Association Queensland president has raised questions about the State Government’s spend on birthing services at Redland Hospital.
AMAQ president Dr Dilip Dhupelia said concerns had been raised with the Metro South Hospital and Health Service CEO Dr Stephen Ayre about forward planing and infrastructure requirements at Redland Hospital.
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The State Government is expected to spend $1.16 million this year to upgrade the Redland Hospital maternity services to include a water birthing suite.
“Due to the demographic profile of the population, Dr Ayre has acknowledged that birthing service and neonatal resuscitation capability is more of an issue at Logan Hospital than at Redlands Hospital and that they are currently addressing the issue,” Dr Dhupelia said.
“What is happening at Redlands is that we have an ageing population and therefore those presenting to the Emergency services have more complex problems.”
“Also, the unknown for planners of services is always the peaks and troughs for emergency services demand that can occur for a number of reasons in popular areas like Redlands.”
“When these peaks occur, the demand exceeds the ability of the staff to provide these services in a timely manner.”
Dr Dhupelia was responding to questions from the News about Queensland Health’s planned infrastructure upgrades later this year.
He said serious questions had been raised with the State Government about the need for hospital infrastructure and medical workforce to keep pace with demand.
“Dr Ayre has assured me that positive discussions are currently occurring with the private sector in the Redlands, as well as with the Australasian College of Emergency Medicine in an attempt to find collective solutions for service access,” Dr Dhupelia said.
“I will also be meeting with the Health Minister in the very near future and will raise these concerns with him as well,” Dr Dhupelia said.
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Health Minister Steven Miles said Redland Hospital was the major health centre for Redland City and Brisbane’s southern bayside suburbs.
“Nearly 55,000 people visited Redland Hospital emergency department last financial year, with close to 36,000 people admitted to the hospital,” he said.
“The Palaszczuk Government is investing $1.73 million to expand the Emergency Department and upgrade Maternity Services at Redland Hospital.”
“The $566,000 Emergency Department upgrade will provide four additional beds to help keep up with demand and the $1.16 million upgrade to the maternity unit to include a water birthing suite, bringing the total number of birthing suites to seven.”.
A Queensland Health spokesman said both upgrades, solely funded by the State Government, were in the early stages of the procurement process.
The spokesman said the Emergency Department upgrade was expected to be completed in September 2019.
Upgrades to the maternity unit were expected to be completed in December 2019.
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Redland Hospital Emergency physician Michael Cameron told The Courier Mail last week
the lack of an intensive care unit, not enough inpatient beds and limited access to key medical specialists was compromising patient care.
Dr Cameron said that at times of overcrowded ICUs across Brisbane, Redlands patients needing intensive care had sometimes had to be transferred to Caboolture, Ipswich or Gold Coast hospitals.
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