Editorial: Satellite hospital naming remains a dangerous disgrace

The naming of satellite hospitals was a politically motivated decision pure and simple, writes the editor.

The thousands of Queenslanders streaming into the state’s new satellite hospitals proves people needed somewhere to go for their mild illnesses, bruises and ailments and not be worried about whether they could pay for it.

But the fact that at least 17 people a day are showing up to these satellite hospitals when they should have made a beeline for an emergency department proves once again that these medical centres should have been called something else entirely from the get go.

And it’s actually gotten worse.

In the previous tranche of health data The Courier-Mail revealed that nearly 13 people a day with category 1 and 2 ailments were showing up to satellite hospitals.

These people have ailments defined as “imminently life threatening”, with patients meant to be seen within two and 10 minutes of arriving at hospital respectively.

As a proportion, category 1 and 2 patients make up about 4.4 per cent of all people who seek help at satellite hospitals as of the end of June, an increase from 3.8 per cent in the first three months of this year.

As Australian Medical Association of Queensland President Dr Nick Yim rightly points out, people have the reasonable expectation that if something is called a hospital it has doctors, an emergency department and overnight beds.

“But satellite hospitals may not have any of these and this is clearly causing confusion for our community,” he said.

This even though the state government has spent $1.35 million on an awareness campaign for satellite hospitals.

Health Minister Shannon Fentiman on Sunday. Picture: Lachie Millard

Health Minister Shannon Fentiman reckons there’s nothing too concerning here, that it’s a case of people not knowing just how sick they are.

She points out that 150 people a week are transported by ambulance to hospital for GP clinics each week.

That works out to 21 people a day.

But there are multitudes more GP clinics across the state than there are satellite hospitals, so it surely remains that patients are being bamboozled by the poorly named facilities.

Of course renaming satellite hospitals won’t bring down the number of critically ill patients seeking urgent care to zero, but if it reduces this number and spares confusion for people more often than not then surely it is worth it.

As we’ve pointed out before, calling these facilities satellite hospitals was a politically motivated decision pure and simple in the lead up to the 2020 Covid-19 election. It remains a dangerous disgrace.

It’s also been two years since The Courier-Mail revealed leaked audio of a senior Queensland Health director expressing their fears it would cause confusion because these sites have few doctors, no overnight beds and are not, frankly, hospitals.

As the election edges closer it appears the Labor government has no interest in renaming the satellite hospitals.

So the least it could consider is the AMAQ’s call for a major education campaign to inform Queenslanders about when to go to a GP clinic, urgent care clinic, satellite hospital or the emergency department.

And this needs to happen before the state government’s new nurse-led walk-in clinics open in October.

NO PLACE FOR SUCH DIVISIVE VIEWS

The arrests yesterday of four members of a large neo-Nazi demonstration in the Brisbane CBD is a sobering reminder that the dangerous divisions we have been witnessing in recent weeks in Britain can also extend to our shores.

About 40 members of the National Social Network – Australia’s largest white supremacist group – marched defiantly through the streets chanting slogans such as “Australia for the white man, the rest must go”.

Premier Steven Miles was quick to condemn the protests. “I absolutely condemn it,” he said. “This is not the Queensland I live in and it is not the Queensland I lead. We are a state full of many cultures, which should be celebrated. Thank you to the police who spend their days keeping our communities safe.”

Opposition leader David Crisafulli also slammed the “pathetic” behaviour of “small-minded fools”.

Queensland and Australia have unquestionably benefited from embracing immigration and diversity.

The views of those marching yesterday have no place in our society and should be consigned to the dustbin of history.

Responsibility for election comment is taken by Chris Jones, corner of Mayne Rd & Campbell St, Bowen Hills, Qld 4006. Printed and published by NEWSQUEENSLAND (ACN 009 661 778). Contact details here

Originally published as Editorial: Satellite hospital naming remains a dangerous disgrace