HEALTH GETS BOOSTER
New services and hospital upgrade part of five-year blueprint
PLASTIC surgery, cardiology and paediatric services are priorities as the Cairns and Hinterland Health Service gears up for the next five years to meet demand for medical care in the Far North.
Also to be boosted are ophthalmology (eye surgery), interventional cardiology, medical paediatrics, plastic and reconstructive surgery and rehabilitation services.
The southern corridor is the next focus as the population continues to grow at a rapid rate with work to begin on a medical precinct at Edmonton.
But the big picture is a Cairns University Hospital similar to Townsville and the Gold Coast.
PLASTIC surgery, cardiology and medical paediatric services are to be boosted at Cairns Hospital as part of a five-year plan to meet increased patient demand in the Far North.
The Cairns and Hinterland Hospital and Health Service has released its Clinical Services Plan, mapping out how it will respond to a forecast 2.8 per cent growth in demand for acute services leading to 2022.
The patient growth rate is well above the region’s predicted population growth, which is expected to be 1.4 per cent each year to 2027.
Last year, there was 69,652 admissions into Cairns Hospital’s emergency department, a 1.5 per cent increase on the previous year.
There were 225 cases at the emergency department on Monday last week alone, well above the average 191 cases a day the ED receives.
There were also 29 ambulances forced to be ramped outside the busy ward on the same day.
CHHHS is planning to partner with other providers across the Far North’s health and social care system to support the extra capacity.
The service’s chief executive, Clare Douglas, said the authority was also aiming to develop a rural and remote plan to increase self sufficiency at Atherton, Mareeba and Innisfail hospitals and wanting to upgrade key speciality services.
This includes ophthalmology (eye surgery), interventional cardiology, medical paediatrics, plastic and reconstructive surgery and rehabilitation services.
The health service has been criticised for having a lengthy waiting time for breast reconstructive surgery, however, has recently employed a Norwegian specialist to assist with patient demand.
“We have a specialist who has started, but we’re going to get another one,” Ms Douglas said. “That will take a year, but we’ve advertised for another one, to ensure that we have a better plastic service.”
The southern corridor of Cairns has accounted for a majority of population growth in the city of 59 per cent.
While plans for a second hospital, that was initially proposed for Mill Rd at Edmonton have been canned, Ms Douglas said the health service was progressing with its proposed major medical precinct at Edmonton, which is to be built on a 5.2ha block of land on Walker Rd.
“We will increase our community service requirements for the southern region,” Ms Douglas said.
“(At the medical precinct) we’ve proposed renal services, endocrinology, respiratory, child and maternal services, and sexual health services.”
CHHHS has long been pushing to reach “level six” status, in order to combine tertiary level public health services, with teaching education and research – similar to hospitals in Townsville and on the Gold Coast.
Ms Douglas said the service was close to signing a memorandum of understanding with the Tropical Australian Academic Centre to progress plans for a “university hospital.”