REMEMBER WHEN

GOLD COAST BULLETIN Tuesday, Sept 28, 2004

WHILE the Gold Coast Hospital emergency department overflowed and patients waiting for operations were turned away, just 15 minutes away surgeons and highly skilled nurses were “doing the crossword”.

Nurses at the hospital’s Robina campus said surgeons were operating on just one patient per day when they could easily treat five, and two top-level nurses were caring for just three patients at a time.

“I must remember to take my book and crossword on my next shift,’’ said a rueful nurse, who did not want to be named.

“We’re all just sitting there twiddling our thumbs.”

Darkened corridors were lined with rooms of empty beds, deserted nurses’ stations, operating theatres and offices.

Gold Coast Hospital bosses admitted there were empty beds at Robina but said it was because the hospital was not medically equipped or correctly staffed for the same level of care provided at Southport.

Most of the surgery done at Robina was less complex and there were wards for palliative care, mental health and renal dialysis. Transferring patients there from Southport was often not an option because of safety concerns, said a hospital spokeswoman.

However, the Robina nurse said colleagues were furious to read about cases such as that of Oxenford mum Nicole Casey who was turned away from the Gold Coast Hospital for the second time the previous week after waiting a year for a simple operation.

She said the gall bladder operation Ms Casey needed could easily have been performed at Robina.