News
12 April, 2022
Elective surgeries cancelled
PUBLIC hospital patients across the region were left stunned and confused this week to be told their surgeries were cancelled, just hours before they were due to take place.
Initially, it was understood Caboolture, Kilcoy and Redcliffe Hospitals had cancelled the surgeries, however it was later confirmed the surgery ban also included the West Moreton Health district, covering Esk, Ipswich, Gatton and Laidley hospitals.
Patients were told they would be contacted about their surgeries next week, however it was unclear when the surgeries would take place.
When asked which hospsitals were cancelling surgeries, Queensland Health spokespeople were unable to provide an answer, saying they needed more time to source the information.
Instead, they quoted a press conference given by Health Minister Yvette D’Ath, where she discussed the impacts of the latest Covid-19 variants on staff.
“What we have seen with Omicron in the second wave is, as we expected, the case numbers are starting to come down in the community, which is great news,” Ms D’Ath said in the press conference.
When asked if Queensland Health or the Metro North Hospital and Health Service would advise when the cancelled surgeries would be rescheduled, the spokesperson could not provide an answer to the Sentinel News.
“Queensland Health continues to deliver world-class healthcare in the face of rising demand for health services, combined with disruptions due to COVID-19 and many severe weather events. This includes providing both emergency care and elective care to patients requiring surgery,” the spokesperson said.
“To manage operational requirements, comprehensive plans have been implemented to help prioritise emergency, essential and acute care, particularly when health services are in high demand due to COVID-19. As per standard procedure, Queensland Health manages these operational requirements in several ways including rescheduling surgery, delivering healthcare in other settings and Telehealth consults.
The Sentinel News sent the following questions to Queensland Health on Tuesday, when the extent of the surgery cancellations became clear.
Can you confirm hospitals in the Metro North and West Moreton Hospital and Health Services are currently rescheduling elective surgeries?
Which hospitals are rescheduling these surgeries?
What percentage of elective surgeries at these hospitals are being rescheduled?
What is the delay until these surgeries will take place?
Why are the surgeries being rescheduled?
What is Queensland Health doing to alleviate these delays?
How many medical staff, either nurses or doctors, have been dismissed from their positions as a result of not being Covid vaccinated?
Will this current situation, and the ongoing issues of ambulance ramping and ED delays, see Metro North HHS or Queensland Health resume funding of the urgent care facility at the Health Hub Morayfield?
If not, why not?
Queensland Health supplied the following responses:
"Recent press conferences, including today’s, covered issues about the impact of COVID-19 on the community and hospitals.
The Health Minister has spoken about furloughed staff in today’s press conference and the impact of COVID-19 on the hospital system:
“What we have seen with Omicron in the second wave is, as we expected, the case numbers are starting to come down in the community, which is great news. But we are seeing the tail end lag in our hospital system and across our health workforce. So, in the last 24 hours, we're now reporting 572 COVID patients across our public and private hospitals. And that's the highest we have seen in this second wave of Omicron. But the good news is we are seeing a decline in the number of children being reported positive. Just two weeks ago, we had 3,121 children and today's numbers are down to 997. So that's really positive news. It's further evidence that we are coming off the wave. But we are seeing, of course, those people who are unwell coming into the hospital system and we are also recorded 3,416 health workers, and 195 Queensland Ambulance Service operational staff who are furloughed as well. So, we know that with those COVID numbers in our hospitals, as well as our staff who are isolating or quarantining, that is putting pressure on the system.”
The Health Minister spoke about elective surgeries during the April 5 press conference:
“So we still at a local level hospitals will make those decisions as to whether there needs to be any suspended elective surgery based on demands.”
The Minister mentioned the impact of COVID on HHSs during the press conference on 1 April. You may also like to include snippets from the presser in case you need greater context on the impact COVID is having:
“…we are seeing an increase in the number of cases that we have in Queensland. So we haven't hit the peak… we certainly are not coming off that peak yet. What we have seen is we've now got 376 people in our public hospitals with COVID, 13 in ICU and another 27 in private hospitals, and one in ICU. And reporting 10,722 cases today…So with that, we know that we are seeing …we have seen over the last two weeks numbers increasing in our hospitals, but also along our furloughed staff. And I've talked about this earlier this week. As of yesterday, we now have 3305 health workers and Queensland Ambulance Service workers who are isolating and quarantining. This will put pressure on our health system. It is putting pressure on our health system. So with increasing cases in our hospitals, as well as a very large number, in fact, more than double in the last week and a half of staff who are unavailable to work, we are notifying that there will be some localised changes to services.”
Additional information is in the below response.
Queensland Health continues to deliver world-class healthcare in the face of rising demand for health services, combined with disruptions due to COVID-19 and many severe weather events. This includes providing both emergency care and elective care to patients requiring surgery.
To manage operational requirements, comprehensive plans have been implemented to help prioritise emergency, essential and acute care, particularly when health services are in high demand due to COVID-19. As per standard procedure, Queensland Health manages these operational requirements in several ways including rescheduling surgery, delivering healthcare in other settings and Telehealth consults.
This is not unique to Queensland. Other jurisdictions in Australia and several countries around the world, have chosen to reschedule and suspend elective surgery when demand for emergency or essential health care is high.
A recovery plan, for all HHSs, has been developed to manage the elective surgery backlog and includes utilising beds in the private sector and expanding our operating outside of normal business hours."
