Is Cairns Hospital ready to handle Covid in the Far North?

Fresh concerns over Cairns Hospital ability to cope with a Covid surge rose as the state Health Minister visited FNQ to urge people to get vaccinated and not clog up emergency departments.

A CRITICAL shortage of hospital beds could plunge Cairns’ health system into chaos if a Covid outbreak hits the city when Queensland reopens its borders in December.

While the tourism and business sectors rejoice over news eager tourists from southern states could soon be spending up a storm in the Far North, medical experts are concerned the region’s slow vaccination uptake, coupled with an already stretched public hospital could spell disaster when the virus inevitably seeps into the city.

Queensland Health Minister Yvette D’Ath has pleaded with Far North Queenslanders to get vaccinated immediately to help reduce any future burden on the system should an outbreak occur.

During a visit to Cairns this week, Ms D’Ath acknowledged the state’s hospitals were under duress.

Health and Ambulance Services Minister Yvette D'Ath at the Cairns Convention Centre with Tourism Tropical North Queensland CEO Mark Olsen, Cairns and Hinterland Hospital and Health Service chairman Clive Skarott and Cairns Airport CEO Richard Barker. Picture: Peter Carruthers

“We do have a workforce shortage in the health sector,” she said.

“If you’re concerned about the pressure on our health system, if you care about our health workers, right now, then you should be getting vaccinated”.

Cairns-based Together Queensland senior vice president and Cairns Hospital anaesthetist, Dr Sandy Donald, said he was worried the hospital lacked the capacity to manage an influx of Covid infections, particularly in light of a recent spate of “code yellow” alarms.

Code yellows are declared when a hospital has an infrastructure or other internal emergency which could affect its service delivery.

“We really don’t have enough beds to meet the current demand,” Mr Donald said.

“We need about 70 more beds now (and) looking at the future we should plan for 300,” he said.

But Cairns and Hinterland Hospital and Health Service’s chief executive Tina Chinery said a significant effort had been invested to update the service’s Covid response plans.

There are concerns from health workers that the Cairns Hospital emergency department will be unable to cope with a Covid surge. Picture: Peter Carruthers

“Our planning will continue to be updated as the proportion of our population increases who have had both Covid-19 vaccinations,” she said.

“Our Covid-19 response plan outlines what services we may have to suspend or change to create capacity as case numbers increase”.

Ms Chinery said the hospital’s emergency department had experienced a sustained period of peak demand, jumping from 220-240 people a day to closer to 280 presentations in October.

But she denied that repeated code yellows impacted patients.

“There is minimal impact on patients,” she said.

“A code yellow simply allows us to shift resources to where they are needed the most.”

Earlier this month Queensland Nurses and Midwives’ Union assistant secretary Kate Veach said a survey of health workers at Cairns Hospital revealed 87 per cent said they were not confident their facility would cope if a Covid-19 outbreak occurred in their area.

Originally published as Is Cairns Hospital ready to handle Covid in the Far North?