Meeting to discuss hospital meltdown

HEALTH workers have called an urgent meeting with Cairns Hospital executives today over ambulance ramping and overcrowding crisis at the hospital’s Emergency Department.

Australian College for Emergency Medicine president Simon Judkins will visit the hospital alongside Australian Medical Association Queensland representatives to seek an immediate commitment from Queensland Health to fix the ongoing issue.

Dr Judkins said hospital management’s response to the concerns repeatedly raised by ED staff over capacity and block issues had so far been a case of “too little, too late”.

The Cairns and Hinterland Hospital and Health Service has implemented several initiatives to free up resources at the hospital, including recently increased permanent nursing staff and opening an additional ward with 12 beds.

But Dr Judkins said there was an unacceptable situation that extended beyond small investments in beds and staff.

“For some time now, we have been raising concerns that patient and staff safety at Cairns Hospital is being seriously compromised due to the failure to manage demand,” he said. “We’ve raised concerns that Code Yellow – which the health service is placed under during disaster situations when it struggles to meet public demand for health services – has become a normalised way for the Cairns Hospital to operate.”

Both the ACEM and AMA Queensland want the hospital to open 10 beds in the ED, which must be distinct from beds being bought at Cairns Private Hospital to manage acute admissions.