Traffic banks up at hospitals and COVID testing clinics
Traffic has been banked up for hours across parts of Brisbane at hospitals and COVID testing centres with police even called in to direct traffic at one location.
South West
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Traffic has been banked up for hours across the Westside of Brisbane as hospitals and COVID testing centres are slammed by demand.
At Kenmore, police were called in this morning to deal with a traffic jam on Brookfield Rd as people tried to get into the drive through testing centre at the Village Shopping Centre carpark.
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At Taringa traffic was banked up 100m on Moggill Rd but patients were waiting more than 15 minutes just to get into the carpark at a pathology testing centre.
Indooroopilly mum Elisabeth freudigmann said she was advised by her GP to come in for a test after developing a cold and sore throat on Sunday.
“I’ve also had sinus and congestion,” she said.
“My doctor told me to get a test and wear a mask. I was expecting a queue so I’m not surprised but I thought they would have more testing centres in place.”
About half a dozen masked staff from the pathology lab and the adjacent Taringa medical centre were in the carpark processing people as they waited in their cars.
The medical centre said queues formed as soon as the pathology lab testing centre opened at 11am.
“This always happens when there has been a local case. People are telling us they can’t send their kids to daycare or can’t return to work unless they’re tested,” a spokeswoman said.
“It’s not just here, it’s right across Brisbane at the Royal Brisbane Hospital, PA Hospital and other hospitals. They’re all fully booked.”
Bellbowrie resident Marlene Marks said she had no symptoms but had visited indooroopilly shopping centre at the same time as two infected people.
She could not get a Telehealth appointment but drove to the Kenmore village shopping centre testing centre after her GP said there was no waiting.
“I’ve done this for my own peace of mind CC and because it’s the right thing to do by others,” she said.
A testing supervisor at Kenmore said the queues started as soon as they opened at 7am. The Kenmore drive through closes at 3pm.
“I knew there would be demand, just not this much,” she said.
Moggill MP Christian Rowan, a medical doctor who has been volunteering on the frontline during lockdown, said the biggest queues were at the Kenmore drive through.
A federal government funded testing centre a few hundred metres away had no queues as it had a pre-booking system.
Dr Rowan said he had written to the state Health Minister requesting there be more testing capacity added to meet demand.
The line-up outside the fever clinic at Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital this afternoon stretched for about 100m from Butterfield St into the testing centre.
Half a dozen marquees were set up to shade staff, suited up in gowns and masks, on a hot afternoon as people patiently waited.
