ACTION STATIONS
Plans to expand Cairns Hospital’s emergency department
A BUSINESS case for a $15 million expansion at Cairns Hospital to ease pressure on the stressed emergency department is being prepared.
Cairns and Hinterland Health Service has identifed an empty space next to the ambulance bay for the extension and is seeking funds from the Queenland Government for the work.
A review of the emergency department has recommended “substantial expansion and redevelopment of the Cairns Hospital emergency department within five years to meet future needs”.
About 195 people per day visited the ED in 2017-18 with an average of 203 per day so far this month.
Chief executive Clare Douglas said the review was instigated after concerns from staff over the growing number of people requesting help in the ED. She said to cope with the growth, short stay beds had to be doubled to 16.
CAIRNS and Hinterland Hospital and Health Service executives are set to put a request to the State Government for up to $15 million to expand the city’s emergency department into an unused part of the Esplanade site. The news comes after the
Cairns Post received details from the Cairns Hospital emergency department review, which recommended a “substantial expansion and redevelopment of the Cairns Hospital emergency department within five years to meet future needs”.
Part of the 16 recommendations for “CHHHS to consider with staff” include high priority infrastructure changes such as increasing adult short stay capacity, new paediatric short stay capacity, bigger resuscitation beds, a fast track zone, a redeveloped front of house and a behavioural assessment room for mental health patients.
Chief executive Clare Douglas said the review was instigated after concerns from staff over the growing number of emergency presentations.
In 2017-18, an average of 195 people per day visited Cairns Hospital ED with an average of 203 per day so far this month.
That number has steadily increased since 2003, when 91 daily average presentations were recorded in August; and 2011, when 141 people on average visited the newly redeveloped ED in April.
Tourists, or patients outside the CHHHS region, make up 9268 of the 71,118 total presentations in the last financial year.
Ms Douglas said to cope with the growth, short stay beds had to be doubled to 16.
“Many of the patients who present to the ED are very sick, it’s not just people who could go to the GP,” Ms Douglas said.
“We’re really pleased with the review and that it responds to what the staff were concerned about and it gives us a road map of what we need to do to go forward.”
The review also recommended four specialists, two nurses, a physiotherapist, social worker, administration officer and three indigenous liaison officers, temporarily employed by a recent $3.8 million injection into the department, be made permanent.
A comparison with other regional EDs showed Cairns Hospital was smaller and less resourced than others dealing with a similar number of patients.
Work will begin now on a business plan to inform executives and the State Government on how much bigger emergency facilities will need to be in the future.
Staff will also be consulted on the plan.
However, a 460 sq m empty space next to the current ambulance bay could be used for the expansion as soon as approvals are received.
Another space in the ED is also available but has not been fit for use.
“It will have to be a staged approach because the emergency department will still have to run,” Ms Douglas said.
“We haven’t got infrastructure money just yet. The government knows about the report, they have seen the comparison to others. Now it’s about working with them on getting that funding.
“I think the amount needed will be around $10-15m.
“Before the next budget we should know about the money, but I encourage (the State Government) to let us know earlier.”
Emergency department director Richard Stone said while the earmarked space was some distance from the rest of the department, if plans supported it, the new area would be well-used by emergency staff.
However, he said it was unknown if the vacant area would be enough to cater for the demand for emergency services in the longer term.