Toowoomba Hospital surgery cancelled as ED inundated
Some non-urgent surgeries have been suspended at Toowoomba Hospital due to the emergency department being overwhelmed and Logan due to staffing issues.
Two Queensland hospitals have been forced to suspend some non-urgent surgeries as they grapple with overwhelmed emergency departments and staff issues.
Toowoomba Hospital suspended eight category 2 and 3 surgeries due to a flood of patients overwhelming the emergency department, with the hospital operating at tier two on Tuesday and Wednesday.
While Metro South health service suspended 15 non-urgent surgeries.
It comes after all Metro North hospitals in Brisbane cancelled surgeries last week as the Health Minister Tim Nicholls announced an influx of patients with the flu and Covid had pushed EDs to the limit.
A total of 29 category two and three surgery patients were asked to reschedule during the 48 hour operation freeze to free up beds at the Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital and the Prince Charles, Redcliffe and Caboolture hospitals.
A Darling Downs Hospital and Health Service spokesman said that no patient requiring lifesaving clinical care would be affected by pauses to elective surgery.
“Emergency surgeries and category 1 elective surgeries will continue. Some Category 2 and 3 non-urgent elective surgeries at Toowoomba Hospital were paused on 22 and 23 July to create bed capacity for admissions from our emergency departments. Patients who were impacted by this pause were contacted directly.
“Darling Downs Health has well-established systems in place to plan for and respond to high demand, which generally aligns with winter when we see more patients presenting to our hospitals and more patients needing hospitalisation for their symptoms,” he said.
The government is investing $1.8bn over the next four years to boost the number of elective surgeries across the state as part of the Surgery Connect Surge. A total of 12,000 extra surgeries have been taken off the waitlist and referred to the program between February and 30 June this year.
The health department is partnering with private sector providers to hasten surgeries.
Originally published as Toowoomba Hospital surgery cancelled as ED inundated
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