Darling Downs Health chief executive Annette Scott responds to ramping worries
The head of Darling Downs Health has reassured the community that Toowoomba Hospital was equipped to care for its patients after revelations a 88-year-old man suffering congestive heart failure waited on a stretcher in a hallway for more than six hours.
QLD News
Don't miss out on the headlines from QLD News. Followed categories will be added to My News.
Darling Downs Health has defended the Toowoomba Hospital’s record of treating emergency department patients after the family of a man ramped on an ambulance stretcher aired their concerns in The Chronicle.
His daughter told The Chronicle that he was suffering from congestive heart failure.
While he was quickly removed from the ambulance vehicle, he remained on a stretcher in the emergency department hallway for another six hours before he was admitted to a hospital bed.
It is in understood there were about 160 ED presentation on August 22, with a spike of the most serious category one and two cases.
He was later transferred to the Princess Alexandra Hospital where he stayed for about a week.
The man’s family praised the hospital staff’s professionalism but raised concerns that overcrowding elevated the risk of death or serious complication.
On Monday, Darling Downs Health chief executive Annette Scott held a press conference where she reassured the public that the hospital was equipped to care for its patients during periods of peak demand.
“At times, and like other public health services Australia-wide, there are off-stretcher delays at the Toowoomba Hospital,” she said.
“In our most recent performance data, 58.4 per cent of patients were transferred off-stretcher within 30 minutes.”
From January to March this year the Queensland Ambulance Service across the state lost 43,439 hours, with an 8 per cent increase in hours lost compared to the same period in 2023, according to data released by the Queensland parliament.
In the Darling Downs, during the same period, paramedics lost 1373 hours – or 57 days – to ramping.
Ms Scott said category one and two patients were transferred off stretcher within recommended time frames, the delay being felt by the less-serious patients.
“There are a lot sicker people turning up and a lot more acutely unwell people turning up to our emergency department,” she said.
“We have a free QAS system in Queensland so it’s not surprising that these patients are turning up through ambulances.
“The important part of the story is the really sick ones are being seen in the care time that is recommended.
“Every effort is being made to get those ambulances back out into the community to respond.”
There about 50 bays in the Toowoomba Hospital’s ED with plans to build another 70 bays at the new hospital at the Bailey Henderson campus.
However this new ED won’t come online until 2027, at which point the Toowoomba regions’ population is forecast to increase by about 15,000 residents.
Ms Scott said increased demand on the hospital was the ‘new normal’ but that DDH health had a range of partnership in place with private hospitals and neighbouring health services that would be activated as needed.
“It’s about working out how we respond to those increased projections and what are the public-private partnerships we put in place to respond to what will be population demand,” she said.
More Coverage
Originally published as Darling Downs Health chief executive Annette Scott responds to ramping worries
‘Upgrade from vaping’: Qld teens targeted by new nicotine nightmare
A new and illegal nicotine trend that is targeting young Queenslanders with claims it’s an “upgrade from vaping” has alarm bells ringing across the state.
Editor’s view: Action vital on illegal tobacco
The illegal tobacco trade is thriving in Queensland, with black market activity fuelling gang wars and attracting new users, including children, so it is vital that meaningful action is taken now.