The Queensland government has pledged $20 million towards hiring more triage nurses, creating medical commanders, and improving access to medical imaging at hospitals across the state.
Key points:
- The Queensland government has come under fire over ambulance ramping and hospital wait times
- Health Minister Shannon Fentiman met with emergency department heads today
- $20 million has been allocated to implement a suite of measures to help improve patient flow
The announcement follows a crisis meeting between emergency department heads on Friday to discuss ways to improve patient wait times.
The government has come under fire amid calls to address ambulance ramping following the death of a man who waited three hours on an ambulance stretcher at Ipswich Hospital last Thursday.
The funding package will see rapid access clinics and surgical assessment units expanded, enabling patients to access hospital without going through an emergency department.
It will also fund patient care facilitators within GP clinics to prevent unnecessary hospitalisations.
“These are some good key initial outcomes of the meeting,” Health Minister Shannon Fentiman said after the roundtable.
“With a funding allocation of $20 million, I want to make sure we’re doing everything we can to better manage patient flow and support our clinicians.”
Ms Fentiman said she would also start meeting weekly with the acting director-general and frontline clinicians to help with the implementation of the changes.
According to the latest government figures, three of Brisbane’s busiest hospitals, including Logan, Ipswich and the Princess Alexandra Hospitals, recorded some of the longest ambulance stretcher to emergency department bed wait times.
The premier said on Friday that the government was investing nearly $10 billion in new hospitals and beds over six years, while seven satellite hospitals are due to be completed next year.
“We have people in aged care and disabilities in beds in our hospitals, so we need to make sure that we are working with the federal government to move them out,” Ms Palaszczuk said.
“We are absolutely planning for this growing state, but I tell you what we can’t control, which is 120,000 people moving here in the last year.
“We need more GPs — the number one issue that people are telling me is that they can’t access a GP, and if people can access their GP, they’re not going to be turning up to our emergency departments because they’ll go to their local doctor first.”
Patients waiting nearly 10 hours for emergency bed
A roundtable was previously held in 2021, when emergency specialists, surgeons and doctors from across the state met to develop a road map out of the emergency department ramping crisis.
Between June and July this year, patients waited upwards of nearly 10 hours at Ipswich Hospital to be allocated an emergency bed.
Further south at Logan Hospital, wait times blew out to over eight hours in June, July and in September.
Brisbane’s Mater Hospital, Redlands Hospital and the Queen Elizabeth II Hospital also recorded lengthy wait times between May and September.
Meanwhile, the median time it took to transfer patients off a stretcher across the state in September was 26 minutes.
Queensland Ambulance Service (QAS) responds to 1.2 million incidents a year, making it the busiest ambulance service in the country.
Live updates
First step to reduce ramping
By Kelsie Iorio
Queensland Ambulance Service Commissioner Craig Emery was in the meeting too.
He says the initiatives are the “first step” to reducing ramping time.
“I’m expecting to see an almost-immediate change,” he says.
“Our service and the health services are doing all that they can and all that they should do, and for the most part, we are continuing to deliver good services to the community and I’m very proud of that.”
Dr Rothwell is asked if he feels listened-to by the meeting’s participants — he says yes.
“The meeting today was excellent and it wasn’t just me, there was a number of senior emergency doctors who had the opportunity to speak,” he says.
‘Whole-of-hospital’ response
By Kelsie Iorio
Dr Sean Rothwell, the director of the Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital emergency department, is also speaking today.
He says it’s a “whole-of-hospital challenge” to improve the flow of patients through the emergency department and beyond.
“We’re still well-staffed and we’re still providing excellent care to our patients,” he says.
“We are facing challenges with increasing demand … but we’re still confident we’re providing excellent care.”
$20 million funding commitment
By Kelsie Iorio
Ms Fentiman says she will start meeting weekly with the acting Director-General and frontline clinicians to help with the implementation of the changes.
“These are some good key initial outcomes of the meeting,” she says.
“With a funding allocation of $20 million, I want to make sure we’re doing everything we can to better manage patient flow and support our clinicians.”
Outcomes of ‘very productive’ meeting
By Kelsie Iorio
Health Minister Shannon Fentiman is speaking now.
She says he’s had a “very productive” meeting with heads of Queensland’s emergency departments and frontline clinicians to discuss how the government can better support the system.
The government says it will work to:
- Increase the number of triage and waiting room nurses
- Fund medical commanders at all hospitals to “manage patient flow”
- Expand rapid access clinics and surgical assessment units
- Fund “patient care facilitators” within GPs to prevent hospitalisations in the first place
- Increase medical imaging access on weekends and out-of-hours
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