ALP promise of more nurses
A RE- ELECTED Palaszczuk Labor Government would recruit an additional 210 nurses, an extra four midwives and expand the Nurse Navigator program to 30 in the Townsville Hospital and Health Service.
Thuringowa MP Aaron Harper, who worked as a paramedic before entering politics, said he was proud to serve in a government that had legislated nurse- to- patient ratios in adult acute medical and surgical wards, including Townsville Hospital, despite the opposition of the LNP.
“The LNP’s cut of 119 nurses from the Townsville Hospital Health Service was appalling,” Mr Harper said.
“As a former ambulance officer, I know the importance of nurses and adding an extra 155 nurses to the health service will help save lives.”
LNP health spokesman John- Paul Langbroek said Labor should address hospital “ramping”, bed block “and the overall decline in services at Queensland hospitals”.
“The latest figures for August 2017 show 28 per cent of all Queensland patients were ramped on stretchers in the back of ambulances or waiting rooms,” he said.
Mr Langbroek said Labor’s announcement of extra nurses and midwives meant nothing if the outcomes for patients were not getting better.
“It was the LNP that significantly reduced ramping when in office and boosted patient outcomes,” he said.