‘Something has to give’: Staff shortages fuel hospital crisis
Specialist medical workers out of action due to virus contact has the city’s main health provider scrambling to find solutions for a workforce pushed to the limit.
Cairns
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SPECIALIST medical workers out of action due to virus contact has the city’s main health provider scrambling to find solutions for a workforce pushed to the limit.
A senior Cairns Hospital anaesthetist has warned an explosion of cases expected to come from the redefining of close contacts combined with workers in quarantine could send a system already at breaking point over the edge.
On Friday 91 new cases were added to the burden on the Cairns and Hinterland Hospital and Health Service.
Cases now total 344, of which six had been hospitalised but none required intensive care treatment.
Chief health officer Dr John Gerrard insists the state’s hospitals will cope with increased cases based on early predictions despite 193 infected staff and 193 close contacts forced into quarantine.
But Cairns-based Together union Queensland senior vice-president Dr Sandy Donald said chronic staff shortages had led to unfair and unsustainable demand on workers.
“People are being asked to come in on their days off,” he said.
“The pressure on people in the health care system can be unrelenting, that’s certainly not good for health workers and not good the public.
“It’s a system at breaking point and then you add demand, something has to give.”
It’s understood medical staff working on an already understaffed paediatric ward connected to the Pelicans In the City daycare case have been unable to work since Wednesday.
Queensland Health refused to be drawn on how many of the CHHHS’s 7142 staff have been excluded from work due to exposure to the virus or say if elective surgery would be suspended but hospital insiders say up to 80 key medical staff were not at work on Friday. The service insists the paediatric unit will not be shut down due to lack of staff and no patients will be excluded from procedures at Cairns Hospital.
Australian Medical Association Queensland roundtable chair Dr Kim Hansen was dismayed members had been put under extra pressure.
“This was very predictable that we would lose staff so it’s really disappointing to find ourselves in this situation with terrible staff shortages when Covid is ramping up,” she said.
On top of staff shortages, she said PPE designed to fit different face shapes at Cairns Hospital was in short supply.
“This is the same situation we were in last year,” she said.
“Our members are telling us N95 masks are not available.
“It’s frightening that our members are being asked to look after patients that may have Covid without the masks that fit them properly.
“We don’t know why there are shortages but it appears Queensland Health has been caught out.”
CHHHS chief executive Tina Chinery said a Covid response plan had identified services that may have to be paused as case numbers increase.
“(Which included) non-urgent elective surgery and using innovative models of care such as Telehealth to deliver services to the community,” she said.
“Our response when there is a local outbreak will require teamwork across our hospitals, services, partners and community.”
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