Queensland state election: Qld Health boss denies sitting on Redlands Hospital report

Delays in Queensland Health releasing a damning report into Redland Hospital smacks of a “callous, calculated” cover-up, the LNP claims as it enters the final week of election campaigning.

Failures at Redland Hospital has become a flashpoint as Premier Steven Miles and Opposition Leader David Crisafulli prepare for their final week of campaigning.

Delays in Queensland Health releasing a damning report into Redland Hospital smacks of a “callous, calculated” cover-up, the LNP claims as it enters the final week of election campaigning.

A four-year review into the hospital’s endoscopy cancer screening service – which found 12 patients could have lived longer if they received proper care – was finalised on September 9 but not released until October 18.

The Opposition seized on the delay on Saturday to bring the government’s health failures back into the  spotlight after exclusive YouGov polling showed Premier Steven Miles’ personal popularity had come within one point of David Crisafulli’s.  

The shock report, ordered in 2020 when Mr Miles was health minister, found 12 patients could have lived longer if they had received proper care at Redland Hospital, and 73 patients received substandard care.

Queensland Health Director-General Michael Walsh. (Photo AAP/ Megan Slade)

It was finished on September 9, with more than 100 pages redacted, a process common to protect patient confidentiality, but the Health Ombudsman was sent a full copy.

However, Queensland Health’s top bureaucrat Michael Walsh has denied any suggestion of a cover-up and declared the complexity of the report was why it took 39 days – including the first three weeks of an election campaign – to be made public.

“Queensland Health received the report on September 9 (but) no one in government received the report on September 9,’’ Mr Walsh said.

“Given caretaker convention, a full copy of the report has not been provided to the Minister for Health.  The parts of the report that are available online to the public are the only parts of the report that have been provided to government.

Leader of the Opposition David Crisafulli during a media conference about the Redland Hospital report. Picture: Liam Kidston

“This is a 1000-page report covering a decade of care provided at Redland Hospital. Investigators had to consider more than 3000 patients whose cases were reviewed in 2020 and examined hundreds of them in detail.’’

Mr Crisafulli questioned why the report was not mentioned during the last three sitting days of parliament and accused Mr Miles and Health Minister Shannon Fentiman of trying to “wind down the clock’’ until the end of an election campaign.

“The report, while heavily redacted, makes harrowing reading,’’ he said.

“It’s a report that shows deceit. The cover-up was callous. It shows a culture of cover up.

“It was calculated. It’s absolutely unforgivable.’’

Ms Fentiman on October 8 said she had been advised the report was “almost finalised and the last update I had from the Director-General was that it would be released prior to the election”.

A spokeswoman for Ms Fentiman accused Mr Crisafulli of “playing politics with a report that crosses over the Newman LNP government and the Labor government, when he should be focused on supporting patients and their families’’.

“Neither the Premier nor the Health Minister were provided a copy of the report,’’ she said. “It was made available to them, as it was the opposition, online yesterday (October 18) when it was released by Queensland Health.”

The report controversy comes as the  LNP gets set to target Labor’s lack of focus on youth crime this election at its campaign launch on Sunday.

Mr  Crisafulli will give the keynote address at the launch and unveil the party’s latest slogan: A fresh start for Queensland.

The LNP has declined to reveal whether Mr Crisafulli will make any significant announcement after Mr Miles used his party’s campaign launch to pledge $1.4bn for free school lunches.

“David’s speech will send a strong message to Queenslanders that only an LNP government can deal with the Queensland Crime Crisis and call out Labor’s refusal to barely even mention youth crime during the election campaign,” a spokesman said.

The location of the launch and its attendees have been kept secret due to fear of protesters.

Mr Miles also returned  to Brisbane on Saturday after campaigning in the regions.

He denied he would have a better chance of winning the state election if Annastacia Palaszczuk resigned earlier and is staying silent on if he would  stay on as opposition leader.

Health Minister Shannon Fentiman and Premier Steven Miles on the campaign trail. Picture: Adam Head

Polling shows Mr Miles has caught Mr Crisafulli as preferred premier, but failed to translate his growing popularity into votes for Labor.

However, the LNP continues to lead Labor 55 to 45 per cent on a two-party vote – putting the conservatives on track to form government after almost 10 years.

Originally published as Queensland state election: Qld Health boss denies sitting on Redlands Hospital report