Surgeries rescheduled as ED inundated with flu and Covid cases

Toowoomba Hospital has become the sixth hospital in two weeks to be inundated with influenza and Covid cases, forcing the rescheduling of non-urgent surgeries.

The exterior of the Toowoomba Hospital after a new coat of paint, as seen from Pechey St, Wednesday, November 26, 2014. Photo Kevin Farmer / The Chronicle

More than 600 people have ended up in hospital from influenza or Covid-19 across the Darling Downs since the start of the year, and this week Toowoomba Hospital was forced to reschedule surgeries when their emergency department became inundated with cases.

Eight surgeries were rescheduled this Tuesday and Wednesday as the hospital was labelled at Tier 3 for capacity.

Only non-urgent category 2 and 3 elective surgeries were paused so the hospital could respond to emergency presentations.

This came just a week after Metro North Brisbane hospitals rescheduled 185 surgeries as they were hit with a spike in flu and Covid-19 cases.

In the past 12 months the Toowoomba Hospital has recorded 11 Tier 3 notifications, according to a Darling Downs Health spokesman.

There have been 257 flu hospitalisations and 353 Covid-19 hospitalisations across the Darling Downs since the start of the year, according to the Queensland Acute Respiratory Infection Surveillance Report.

Last week there were 109 COVID-19 cases and 198 influenza cases recorded across the region, and a combined 48 hospitalisations for the two viruses.

The Darling Downs has reported 1830 influenza cases since the start of 2025, exceeding their five year average of the same time period which is 1462.

Shadow Minister for Health Mark Bailey, Qld Parliament Question Time, Brisbane. Picture: Liam Kidston

Opposition Health spokesman Mark Bailey said Toowoomba is the sixth hospital across Queensland to be impacted by increasing cases.

“The hospital has just been overwhelmed with flu and Covid cases,” he said.

“Which means they’re having to pull staff out of elective surgery and put them on other duties to deal with the overwhelm.

“This is the sixth hospital in Queensland, where they’ve been overwhelmed by large numbers of flu and Covid-19 cases.”

Toowoomba Hospital executive director of nursing and midwifery services Ali Broadbent confirmed the rescheduled surgeries were caused by increasing respiratory viruses.

“It is ED presentations due to respiratory presentations coming through,” she said.

“It’s not unexpected at this time of year but we have contingency plans.”

She said the hospital was back to a Tier 2 and surgeries were operating as normal.

“We have a triaged and tiered system for that reason, to be able to put strategies in place for whatever tier we are on,” she said.

“Elective surgeries were only rescheduled while we had that increased demand over 48 hours.”

A spokeswoman for Health and Ambulance Services Minister Tim Nicholls said many health services have seen an increase in respiratory presentations.

“Like many Hospital and Health Services, Darling Downs has seen an increase in emergency department presentations due to a rise in flu and Covid cases and made the strategic decision to reschedule eight elective surgeries over two days to free up more capacity in the ED,” she said.

The spokeswoman said there are currently 61,232 people on the elective surgery waitlist, down from 66,632 in December 2024.

Queensland health is offering free flu vaccines for anyone over the age of six months, to reduce symptoms and spread of the illness.

Darling Downs Health have offered local resources for non-life-threatening urgent treatment.

1. Local GP
2. Medicare Urgent Care Clinic – James Street, Toowoomba (open Monday-Friday, 7am - 10pm, Saturday & Sunday, 8am - 10pm)
3. Call 13 HEALTH (13 43 25 84) for 24/7 health advice from a registered nurse
4. Virtual Emergency Care Service (open 8 am-10 pm every day)
5. Cub Care – Kids Urgent Virtual Clinic - (open 4 pm-10 pm every day)
6. Pharmacies