Queensland health emergency: Top Gold Coast doctor warns city’s emergency wards are the busiest in country

The top doctor for the emergency wings at the Gold Coast’s public hospitals says they are facing more complex cases than ever before.

THE top doctor for the emergency wings at the Gold Coast’s public hospitals says they are facing a cocktail of extraordinary growth and demand, and more complex cases than ever before.

In a statement yesterday in response to the crisis enveloping the southeast Queensland health system, Dr David Green, medical director of the emergency departments at Gold Coast Health, said staff at the city’s public hospitals were dealing with 499 presentations every day, with peaks of 560 in recent weeks.

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Gold Coast emergency departments have dealt with 499 presentations every day, with peaks of 560 in recent weeks. Picture Mike Batterham

He highlighted that 117,000 people were expected to be treated at the Gold Coast University Hospital in the next year and said it was the busiest emergency department in Australia.

Since January 2018, Gold Coast Health has activated a level 6.3 response more than 40 times.

Level 6.3 is the highest category of escalation response equivalent to a code yellow — which is triggered for a number of reasons, including when needs community need for health services exceeded the hospital’s ability to take on patients.

“Our hospitals are located in one of Queensland’s fastest-growing corridors, more and more

people are choosing public hospitals over the private system (because they are affordable

and because of our excellent reputation for high quality care), and patients are presenting

with more complex, chronic health needs than ever before,” Dr Green wrote.

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Medical Director of Emergency Departments Dr David Green (right). Lyndon Mechielsen

“This sustained increase in demand has been matched with significant increases in funding

year on year.”

“This situation is unique because all hospitals in our region are experiencing higher than

usual demand at the same time, and the system is unable to support itself in the typical

way.”

Dr Green said a number of steps had been taken to ensure the situation at Gold Coast Health was safe and under control.

“It is important to recognise that Gold Coast University Hospital also receives critically ill

patients from as far south as Grafton, NSW,” he said.

However, he claims the increase in demand has been matched with funding year on year.

In order to deal with capacity, as part of the state wide response Gold Coast Health has:

* Opened additional beds at both Gold Coast University Hospital and Robina.

* Increasing the number of medical and nursing staff in the ED.

* Expanding operating hours of a surgical unit to fast-track emergency department

patients.

* Cancelled all non-urgent training and education for frontline staff.

Elective surgeries are also still continuing at Gold Coast Health.

Currently, Gold Coast University Hospital has circa 700 beds, and Robina Hospital has

circa 300 beds.

While close to capacity, beds are still available at both hospitals, and they have not yet needed to commission private beds, Gold Coast Health said.