REMEMBER WHEN

QUEENSLAND Health Minister Geoff Wilson told Gold Coast Hospital to do its job and get patients seen by specialists within specified time frames.

Mr Wilson was finally forced to act after the Bulletin revealed patients with the most serious illnesses were being turned away from Gold Coast Hospital, unable even to get on waiting lists.

Stung also by revelations from one of the hospital’s most senior doctors that crucial areas of his own health system were worse than those in the third world, Mr Wilson said denying Category 1 patients consultations was unacceptable.

“I have asked the DirectorGeneral to require district CEOs of Queensland Health to ensure that urgent patients needing urgent specialist consultation are able to obtain that at their local outpatients clinic,’’ Mr Wilson told the Bulletin.

“What we want to see is more patients seeing their outpatient specialist sooner.

“Normally I would expect a patient to have their appointment at their local clinic, but if the local clinic thinks a non-urgent patient can be seen sooner at another clinic then that’s what the clinic should arrange, in consultation with the patient’s GP.”

But Gold Coast Hospital management pushed back and painted a picture of a hospital in crisis where demand for some specialist services had increased more than 100 per cent in just four years.

Gold Coast Health District boss Dr Adrian Nowitzke said the demand for specialists couldn’t be met despite a 31 per cent increase in resourcing in the previous two years.