Hospital head denies services are overwhelmed as Townsville Hospital declares code yellow

Chief executive Kieran Keyes denied the hospital’s emergency department isn’t up to the task.

Townsville University Hospital’s chief executive Kieran Keyes has denied the emergency department has been overwhelmed despite having declared a code yellow.

Mr Keyes confirmed that the hospital had declared a code yellow internal emergency on Friday morning as the hospital experienced increased demand in inpatient wards unrelated to Covid and the emergency department.

“It is difficult to predict when there will be a surge in acutely unwell patients,” Mr Keyes said.

“A code yellow is called as a means of ensuring there is a whole-of-hospital approach to responding to an acute capacity constraint.

“We maintain this response until such time as the acute surge in demand resolves.”

Hospital

The hospital last declared a code yellow in October 2021, when it and three other hospitals in Queensland were scrutinised with regards to staffing numbers after all four declared internal emergencies on one day.

Mr Keyes said the added challenge of Covid-19 had made the current situation more difficult, but denied that the emergency department was struggling despite longer waiting times.

“Townsville University Hospital has one of the best performing emergency departments not just in Queensland, but in Australia,” Mr Keyes said.

“Despite this history of strong performance, our hospital still gets busy and we are seeing that today.

“So far this year, our emergency department has seen an average of 238 presentations per day.”

Mr Keyes said the number of daily presentations had risen above the average in the days leading up to the code yellow declaration.

“In the lead up to today, we have consistently exceeded this average number of daily presentations with 273 people presenting for care on Thursday, February 17 and 261 on Wednesday.”

Townsville Hospital and Health Services Chief Executive Kieran Keyes speaks to media.

Mr Keyes encouraged patients with less urgent conditions to contact a general practitioner, and acknowledged that the hospital was continuing to monitor the current situation after postponing elective procedures.

“There are still going to be pressures on the health system, and so the Townsville Hospital and Health Service has scaled back planned care until the end of February at this stage,” Mr Keyes said.

“We continue to carefully monitor the modelling for our region to ensure we can be responsive to this from a hospital point of view.”

Mr Keyes also denied that the departure of staff who refused to comply with the vaccine mandate had played a role in causing Friday’s emergency declaration.

Man hospitalised after car and truck crash

A single patient has been transported to Townsville University Hospital in serious condition following a two vehicle crash on Riverway Drive on Friday afternoon.

A man in his 30s was transported in a serious, but stable condition due to a medical episode following the two vehicle crash at around 3.30pm on Friday.

A police spokeswoman confirmed that around 3.30pm a ute had collided with a truck carrying a landscaping dozer on the back of it.

As of 4.40pm, police were still at the scene, where a fuel spill had occurred as a result of the crash.
More information to come.

Originally published as Hospital head denies services are overwhelmed as Townsville Hospital declares code yellow