Queensland health crisis: The frontline of Gold Coast’s emergency overload

Nurses claim they’ve given mouth-to-mouth to patients in halls due to lack of beds and been asked to do double shifts on days off at Gold Coast’s under-pressure public hospitals.

NURSES claim they’ve given mouth-to-mouth to patients in halls due to lack of beds and been asked to do double shifts on days off at Gold Coast’s under-pressure public hospitals.

Scores of medical professionals told the Bulletin yesterday the emergency department at Gold Coast University Hospital was often at standing-room only, and had taken more than two hours to find beds for very sick people.

“We are literally doing CPR in the corridors”, one nurse said, with another also claiming it was happening.

Patients were being treated in hallways “daily ... usually by paramedics”, a nurse said.

“We some how just cope,” said the Gold Coast nurse who admitted staff were exhausted.

“It is basically a normal day for us. We’ve being doing it long before this weekend.”

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Health Minister Steven Miles at the Gold Coast University Hospital. (AAP image, John Gass)

In response to hallway CPR claims, Gold Coast Health emergency departments medical director Dr David Green said he could “categorically deny” that was happening: “It is simply untrue.”

The differing pictures painted about pressure on the system comes after State Government this week said 10 hospitals in southeast Queensland were at capacity and unable to service the “unprecedented” number of patients walking through emergency department doors.

Frontline staff say despite the strain, no patients were left untreated or in danger.

But one elective surgery had to be cancelled at the Gold Coast University Hospital (GCUH) due to the pressure.

Last month nurses revealed forking out for patients’ meals in emergency wards, hinting at pressure on the health system.

Staff claimed they were reaching into their own pocket to pay for food after Gold Coast Health swapped hot meals for sandwiches in short-stay units at GCU and Robina hospitals. The Health Service backtracked two weeks later.

Health Minister Steven Miles said presentations to Gold Coast public hospitals jumped 10 per cent on the same time last year.

Already this month, Coast hospitals had treated 16,088 patients via emergency departments, 1462 more than March 2018, the government said.

Dr Miles partially blamed the crisis on a spike of influenza cases but frontline staff at said it was a "cop out” with emergency departments at “boiling point” for 18 months.

Gold Coast Health data shows 200 more flu cases compared to the same time last year.

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QAS handing patient to the Gold Coast University Hospital (GCUH). Picture: Jerad Williams

Multiple frontline medical staff claimed nurses were asked to go in on days off for double shifts with exhausted staff were concerned at burn out plus:

* Some emergency rooms had standing-room only. “There were 82 people in the waiting room the other night.”

* 350 people-plus hit emergency departments every day;

* 56 beds went in 2016 with Carrara Health Centre closing, replaced by 10 at GCUH.

* Doctors at Gold Coast Private Hospital have been picking up shifts across the road in order to help with demand.

“It’s been chaos,” a nurse said. “A pressure cooker. Constantly moving patients between Robina and GCUH to put bums in beds.

“The issue has been that GCUH was not built with enough capacity to expand with our growing population.

“I’m concerned for our patients, for our staff.

“Staff are burnt out, exhausted. We just keep getting told we just need to do it. It’s frustrating. We have an amazingly resilient and strong team.”

Queensland chief health officer Jeannette Young and Dr Miles said hospital conditions eased after a $3m emergency injection, which opened up private hospital beds on Tuesday.

Dr Young said there was an “unprecedented increase of demand on hospitals the last three weeks.” “It was clear all were struggling. (But) hospitals have been able to manage every single patient, they will always do that.”

“We can say today pressure has eased but there are still increased numbers in hospitals.”

GC Health confirmed elective surgeries are continuing.