Cairns Hospital emergency department wait times long

Ongoing wait times at the Cairns emergency department have come under attack but one major strategy could have fixed the problem by now. What needs to be done

A CAIRNS man has said he tries to avoid going to the emergency department even in dire cases due to long wait times.

Francis Royee, of Gordonvale, was left waiting a couple of hours on Monday morning while his partner Erin McFarlane waited to be seen.

“I’ve been here before and I’ve waited much longer. I’ve stopped coming here because the wait is way too long and it’s ridiculous,” he said.

“I get there’s a lot of sick people, that really need to be seen but more needs to be done.”

Mr Royee said getting a GP appointment was a huge part of the problem because of the wait times to even get a timeslot.
Cairns and Hinterland Hospital and Health Service tweeted on Sunday about the long wait times advising people to not go for non-urgent needs.

Cairns Hospital acting chief executive Dr Jeremy Wellwood. Picture: Isaac McCarthy

CHHHS acting chief executive Dr Jeremy Wellwood said there were 234 presentations within 24 hours on Sunday.

“There has been a significant increase in presentations across all categories in our ED, which has been exacerbated by patients presenting with respiratory illnesses such as COVID-19 and influenza – this is also impacting our workforce,” he said.

“The chronic general practitioner (GP) shortage in our region has also contributed to additional pressure upon our ED, particularly on weekends where there is a lack of after-hours GPs.”

Francis Royee, of Gordonvale, is fed up with the Cairns Hospital ED wait times. Picture: Andreas Nicola

Dr Wellwood said the teams across the hospital worked collaboratively to ensure flow was prioritised with a focus on ED surge.

Together Queensland senior vice president Dr Sandy Donald said Cairns needed a combined effort from the state and federal government.

“We need to look at all of the health-related services from health education and community health services to general practice to support services and supported accommodation and high level aged care,” he said.

“Some of those services could be increased in the short term, and looking at the whole health-are system is overdue.”

Dr Donald said the constant pressure on ED staff could not keep going on indefinitely.

“Cairns ED has had a serious problem with overcrowding and ambulance ramping for years, starting long before it was so widespread in Queensland,” he said.

While the health service had implemented strategies, Dr Donald said the government was slow with one thing.

“Unfortunately, Queensland has been slow to build the large expansion we need to our hospital,” he said.

Ramping at the front of the Cairns Hospital emergency department has been an ongoing problem. Picture: Peter Carruthers

The 26.4m Cairns Hospital emergency department expansion was fast tracked by Queensland Health Minister Yvette D’Ath to start in September last year.

At the time Ms D’Ath said: “Importantly, the existing ED will remain online throughout construction, which has been planned to ensure minimal disruption to service delivery.”

Opposition health spokeswoman Ros Bates said she was concerned the hospital had resorted to telling people not to come via social media.

“What if a 65-year-old man is sitting at home thinking he’s got indigestion, sees the post and waits to see if it gets worse, and he ends up having a heart attack?

“We cannot allow this to happen.

“If a health service is telling people don’t come to a hospital, they must be sure that they’re not telling people who may have life-threatening conditions to stay away from our hospitals.”

Originally published as Cairns Hospital emergency department wait times long