Cairns Hospital Emergency Department records busiest day in history
The Cairns Hospital Emergency Department has recorded its busiest day in history over the long weekend smashing its previous record in February 2021.
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CAIRNS HOSPITAL Emergency Department has recorded its busiest day in history with 314 people passing through the doors in 24 hours.
Cairns Hospital and Hinterland Health Service executive director of medical services Dr Don Mackie said the patients who came through on Monday May 5 eclipsed the previous record set in February 2021 with a 10 per cent increase.
“We saw a number of people coming through, a lot of them being walk-in patients, and there was an increase in the lower triage categories, or the lower degree of urgency,” he said.
“There’s a few reasons why people are heading to the ED including an increase in the population as a result of tourism, people postponed seeking care over the long weekend, and a continued GP shortage in the Far North.
“People are finding it really hard to get in general practices, particularly on the weekend … we really encourage people to call the 13 Health where they will be triaged and have a conversation with a nurse about the appropriate level of care to match their problem.”
Dr Mackie said health services had concerns about the flu coming back on its own, and combined with Covid, which would only add to the stress of the emergency department.
“We’re still in the tail end of Covid, and while we’ve had two years with very low levels of influenza, it looks like it’s coming back,” he said.
“We don’t really have a great understanding of how the two viruses will interact but it doesn’t feel like it’s going to be a good thing. There’s already been an outbreak in Yarrabah a couple of weeks ago.”
Cairns Hospital director of integrated medicine Dr Linda Bailey said increasing numbers of patients had hospital employees looking at how they could be addressed with emergency department expansions.
“We have had some works done on the emergency departments over the last several years to improve patient flow,” she said.
“We’ve got $26.4m to continue our further development of the ED which will give some additional capacity to manage both the surges and the ongoing increase in demand that we are seeing.
“I think it’s really important that we do make sure the emergency services are being used for emergencies.”
Rise in flu cases in Cairns
HEALTH authorities have warned of a spike in flu cases across the region as Covid numbers stay high just days after the close contact rules were relaxed.
Cairns and Hinterland Hospital and Health Service chief executive Tina Chinery said it was important to get the flu shot this year.
“In addition to Covid-19, the Cairns and Hinterland region is currently seeing an increase in the number of reported flu cases,” Ms Chinery said.
“We are still in this pandemic, so we need to prevent our hospitals from being clogged with flu patients during the winter months.”
Ms Chinery said it was important to stay up to date with the Covid vaccine and maintain social distancing and engage in other hygiene practices.
“We are not seeing any significant trend with Covid-19 cases as a result of the holiday season in the Cairns and Hinterland region,” she said.
“But we are continuing to monitor cases to determine where our resources are required.”
As of Thursday the region had 15 patients in Cairns Hospital, one person in ICU, eight in rural hospitals and 59 in the virtual ward.
While there has been 58 deaths to date in the Far North.
In a seven day period until Thursday the region recorded 2196 cases.
Businesses across Cairns celebrated as these were lifted.
Blackbird Laneway manager Andrew Graham said it was a great thing for small businesses.
“Close contacts (rules) in the past made it hard,” he said.
“There was a period of time where it came close and we thought we would have to close because we didn’t have enough staff.”
He said the change also brought a new wave of consumer confidence.
“A lot of our customers were saying they weren’t coming into the CBD because they would be afraid that they’d come and the business would be shut,” he said.
“People are starting to engage more as a community, it’s been great.”
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