Townsville Hospital and Health Service scales back non-urgent elective surgeries as fourth wave hits hard

Almost 150 Townsville Hospital and Health Service staff are out of action, forcing a cut back on certain procedures, as the fourth Covid wave hits hard.

Non-urgent elective surgeries will be scaled back as the Townsville Hospital and Health Service struggles against a fourth Covid wave, with almost 150 staff out of action.

Townsville Hospital and Health Service Chief Executive Kieran Keyes said the “difficult decision” was made after an uptick in hospital staff contracting Covid-19.

The announcement comes three days after the THHS said they were “well placed” to handle an influx in infections.

As of Friday morning, 145 staff were out of action, up from 70 last week.

“We have been carefully monitoring the situation to ensure we remain responsive to any changes in demand,” Mr Keyes said.

Kieran Keyes, Chief Executive Officer at Townsville University Hospital. Picture: Shae Beplate.

The scaling back of non-urgent elective surgeries and outpatient appointments will come into effect from Monday December 19.

Mr Keyes said he did not anticipate the number of staff furloughed would ease over the next fortnight, prompting the decision to ensure the service could “focus on the most urgent care”.

“It’s very important for me to note that we will always continue to provide the most urgent (category one) elective surgeries, outpatient and endoscopy services, as well as completing any emergency surgery,” he said.

“This has not been an easy decision to make, but it is one that will allow us to redeploy the expertise of our staff to work on urgent areas of need, such as category one surgery,

“We will contact those community members impacted by this decision and all postponed appointments will be rescheduled for the New Year.”

Mr Keyes acknowledged the decision would impact the community.

“ … But it’s a measure we must take to ensure our hospital can continue to provide critical and emergency care,” he said.

“I would also like to thank our staff for their ongoing commitment to our patients, our community, and each other.”

At the time of print, 30 inpatients were being treated for the virus across the health service – up from 21 on Monday.

Originally published as Townsville Hospital and Health Service scales back non-urgent elective surgeries as fourth wave hits hard