Hundreds mistakenly turn up to satellite hospitals despite needing emergency department care

Hundreds of Queenslanders in urgent need of lifesaving care at emergency departments are mistakenly turning up to the state’s satellite hospitals and logging stays of nearly two hours, dire new health records show.

Hundreds of Queenslanders mistakenly turning up to the state’s satellite hospitals are logging stays of nearly two hours despite being in urgent need of lifesaving care best provided at emergency departments.

But Health Minister Shannon Fentiman is adamant a majority of Queenslanders are not bamboozled by the sites carrying the term “hospital”, noting 28,000 others had received care for ailments the facilities are designed for.

It comes as the latest Queensland Health data revealed a dire series of new records, including the largest elective surgery waitlist and specialist outpatient waitlist ever logged.

The data revealed a total of 633 category 1 and 2 patients — the most ill — have turned up to the five satellite hospitals in the last three months of 2023.

Category 1 and 2 ailments are defined as “imminently life-threatening” with patients meant to be seen within two and 10 minutes of arriving at hospital respectively.

Satellite hospitals are designed for far less urgent ailments, with each site equipped with a “Minor Injury and Illness Clinic” designed to provide “free treatment for non-life-threatening illnesses and injuries, including strains, sprains, simple fractures, simple infections and minor burns”.

Health Minister Shannon Fentiman, at Eight Mile Plains Satellite Hospital. Photo Steve Pohlner

But it has been revealed, for the first time, that Category 1 and 2 patients are logging average stays between 44 mins and nearly two hours at satellite hospitals.

There is no emergency department beds in the satellite hospitals, which are predominantly staffed by nurses.

Ms Fentiman said the number of people showing up to satellite hospitals for “very urgent matters” was low compared to what was experienced by GP clinics.

She affirmed there were arrangements in place for those needed lifesaving care, with staff stabilising patients before paramedics transfer them to hospitals.

The LNP have committed to renaming the satellite hospitals should they come into power to eliminate confusion.

According to the state government the satellite hospitals should be credited for causing a 13.7 per cent dip in non-urgent presentations to the Caboolture, Redlands, Ipswich, Robina and Prince Charles hospitals in the final three months of 2023 compare to the previous quarter.

The popularity of satellite hospitals has led to an injection of $4m in government funds to hire 27 more clinicians.

But emergency departments remained busier than ever, with a 15 per cent spike in patients needing the most urgent care amid significant December heatwaves.

The elective surgery waitlist ballooned again to more than 60,000 people to the end of December, despite the public system also completing more than 36,000 operations in the same period.

Queensland is the best in the nation for percentage of elective surgery patients treated on time.

There is also a record 291,507 people waiting to see a specialist in the public system.

Opposition health spokeswoman Ros Bates said these weren’t just “numbers on a spreadsheet”.

“These are real Queenslanders waiting to have their surgery, waiting to see a specialist, waiting for an ambulance,” she said.

“This shocking new data shows there are multiple fires burning in Queensland Health due to Labor’s chaos and crisis.”

Originally published as Hundreds mistakenly turn up to satellite hospitals despite needing emergency department care