No relief in site: Palaszczuk tight-lipped on patient numbers as work begins on satellite hospitals

The Gold Coast is still no closer to a solution for its health crisis, even after a visit from Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk to mark the construction of a new satellite hospital.

The state government is scrambling to prevent the city’s health catastrophe from deepening, with surging demand for non-existent hospital beds creating a nightmare for an ailing workforce.

On Monday, the Premier attended a sod-turning ceremony at the site of the planned Tugun Satellite Hospital, one of seven such facilities under construction across southeast Queensland for non-urgent treatment.

Despite the sod turning the Premier was unable to answer questions about how many patients the new hospital would furnish.

While the Tugun site is scheduled to begin operation next year, there is immense strain right now on the Coast’s health sector. The Premier’s visit coincides with a sharp spike in Covid-19 case numbers for the southeast – with 4804 new cases reported by Queensland Health on Monday.

With 2337 healthcare workers across the state also at home with the virus and a nasty flu season taking hold, coupled with surging tourism numbers post-lockdown, the pressure is mounting on the city’s health facilities, particularly emergency departments.

Health officials from the Gold Coast and the state recently warned residents not to attend the city’s overrun EDs for minor medical ailments, recognising the current stress load on the system.

Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk, Health Minister Yvette D’•Ath and Gold Coast-based Minister Meaghan Scanlon turn the sod on the Tugun Satellite Hospital. Picture: NIGEL HALLETT

Last week the state went as far as to cancel routine patient services at Robina and Gold Coast University Hospital, as well as putting a stop to all non-urgent elective surgery to manage the case load.

While the government has offered no other insight into how it intends to navigate this Covid comeback in relation to the hospital strain, Ms Palaszczuk urged residents to come forward for their third and fourth shots, citing low booster rates across the region.

She rejected suggestions the government should have done more to encourage people to line up for their third dose, and said it was “people’s responsibility” to be safe.

“We went out across the state to get people vaccinated – that’s why Queensland had a record low number of deaths over two years,” she said.

“I’m really urging people over 50 to get their fourth booster this week – I’ll be booking in this week or next week to get mine and everybody else across Queensland should be getting theirs as well.”

As for the potential impact of the satellite sites such as Tugun when it comes online, Ms Palaszczuk could not give an estimate on what percentage of patients would be directed away from overcrowded emergency departments.

Tugun Satellite Hospital when it’s complete. Picture: NIGEL HALLETT

“The state is growing, so there’s going to be an expansion of beds, and the health department has done the modelling of where the beds are needed and where they’ll be put,” she said.

“The modelling has been done in terms of … when the satellite hospitals and all of our new beds come online.”

Under the current Queensland Health and Hospitals plan 2509 extra beds will be made available over the next six years as part of a $9.7bn rollout. However, only 100 of those beds will be available for the fast-growing Gold Coast by 2024, with construction of the new Coomera Hospital, housing 600 beds, not expected to be completed until 2028.

Surging levels of tourism back toward pre-pandemic levels are expected to further increase demand, with Destination Gold Coast CEO Patricia O’Callaghan telling the Bulletin there had already been a 10 per cent increase of visitors this year.

“The Gold Coast welcomed 9.4 million total visitors (up 10.3 per cent on 2021) ... (and while) we still have some way to go to get back to pre-Covid levels, the green shoots are sprouting,” she said.

A site map of the completed hospital. Picture: NIGEL HALLETT

Health Minister Yvette D‘Ath insisted the new satellite centres would eventually ease pressure on hospitals and accelerate long-delayed elective surgeries.

However, she conceded services in the region needed urgent support, noting staff shortages, skyrocketing Covid-19 cases and 30 per cent of walk-in’s requiring beds was causing havoc.

“The virus is putting incredible pressure on our healthcare system … it’s everywhere, there’s no escaping that,” Ms D’Arth said.

“It’s not about the number of paramedics and ambulances on the road – it’s can we get people into beds?

“By shifting some of these services and getting people to go to more locally based satellite hospitals … we know it’s going to make a difference in treating patients quicker in ED and (creating) extra bed capacity.”