Qld’s worst performing hospitals revealed as ED, surgery wait times skyrocket

New data shows Queensland’s worsening hospital crisis, as top doctors issue a stern warning to politicians to fix the broken health care system. SEARCH YOUR HOSPITAL

Queenslanders are spending an alarming amount of time waiting in emergency departments and on surgery waitlists, as top doctors issue a stern warning of the state’s crumbling healthcare system.

The Australian Medical Association has released a damning report detailing Queensland’s poor hospital performance during 2021-22, declaring that the number of stories of people dying while waiting for hospital care had been increasing in the last few years.

The latest annual report revealed just 68 per cent of Queensland hospital ED patients were seen on time last year compared to a slightly better 74 per cent the year prior, with average ED wait times climbing from 15 to 18 minutes.

A Queensland Health spokesman said hospitals faced significant pressure in 2022 due to Covid and a severe flu season which saw an increase in emergency department patients.

“It is false to suggest our Hospital and Health Services (HHSs) do not prioritise clinically safe care for patients who require treatment,” they said.

“Queensland provides some of the best free health care in the world, but like many health systems, we are facing increased pressure.

“This is being driven by a growing and ageing population, the increasing burden of chronic conditions, workforce challenges, and declining private health cover.”

While all hospitals were able to immediately respond to patients in need of resuscitation at the ED, not one hospital was able to respond to second tier “emergency” patients within the 10-minute clinically recommended timeframe, nor third or fourth tier “urgent” patients within the recommended hour.

Average wait times for surgeries also went up in almost all categories, with 3.3 per cent of patients waiting more than a year to get on the operating table, however this data partially reflected the pause on elective surgery as hospitals responded to the pandemic.

Sunshine Coast University hospital was one of the worst when it came to providing surgeries across all urgent and non-urgent categories.

Queensland AMA president Dr Maria Boulton said the hospital statistics came as “no surprise,” and simply reflected the concerns already voiced by many healthcare workers who were doing their best under dire circumstances.

She said if hospitals did not receive adequate funding and resources soon, Queensland would see an sharp increase in “poor patient outcomes.”

“Our hospitals are stretched, and this data shows that there seems to be a deterioration this year from last year,” she said.

“There are more than 36,000 Queenslanders on surgery waitlists, if the elective surgery situation doesn’t get fixed we expect at least 63,00 people waiting for elective surgery by the end of June.”

Gladstone, Robina and Mackay Base Hospitals performed slightly better when responding to emergency ED patients, such as those with stroke symptoms, respiratory problems or severe sepsis, within 10 minutes, while Ipswich and Bundaberg showed some of the worst response times.

Mt Isa Hospital had the state’s best average ED treatment time.

Mt Isa Base Hospital had the best average ED treatment time of 1h 49min, less than half the 4h 16min average wait time experienced by those at the Princess Alexandra Hospital.

Queensland Health said hospitals would always prioritise the sickest patients first.

“This means people with less serious ailments like a minor graze or infection will need to wait longer than someone that has suffered major trauma or is seriously ill,” they said.

But AMA federal president Steve Robson said the data showed a worsening situation.

He called on both federal and state governments to scrap the current hospital funding cap.

“This is a national problem. It needs an urgent national plan. It needs urgent funding injection, and we need a long-term plan to deal with this,” he said.

“We’re suggesting 50-50 Commonwealth state and territory funding.

“We need to scrap the artificial cap and we need to look at a return to pay-per-performance so that hospitals that perform well are rewarded.”

Almost 127,600 patients went under the knife last year, with about half of Queensland hospitals able to get at least 95 per cent of patients on the operating table in time for urgent surgeries like appendicitis, within 30 days.

But when it came to semi-urgent elective surgeries like heart vale replacements, only Gladstone and Maryborough met the 95 per cent benchmark, meaning most patients waited longer than the recommended 90 days.

Redlands, Nambour, Gympie, Townsville University and Sunshine Coast University hospitals were the worst when it came to providing surgeries across both urgent and non-urgent categories, with each failing to meet all wait time thresholds.
The AMA predicts national surgery waitlist could blow out to 500,000 by June.

Originally published as Qld’s worst performing hospitals revealed as ED, surgery wait times skyrocket