Health workers put out of action
TOWNSVILLE Hospital officials say they have no plans on cutting back elective surgeries despite facing the highest levels of Covid-infected staff since the peak of the pandemic.
More than 130 staff or two per cent of Townsville Hospital and Health Service’s 6500strong workforce have tested positive for Covid-19 and are in isolation as local frontline health staff continue to grapple with a third wave of the disease.
THHS chief executive Kieran Keyes said the number of the affected staff were “as high now as they ever have been”, surpassing levels seen in January and February when the hospital was forced to cut back elective surgeries due to a surge in Omicron cases.
However, Mr Keyes said the hospital was choosing to “refrain” from cutting back elective surgeries in the face of this present wave because of how important those services are.
“Health staff don’t grow on a tap, and so they’re really specialised skill resource, and when we have those high numbers, that does mean from time to time we have service interruptions,” he said.
“But we’re working really hard to avoid wholesale disruptions by cancelling category two or category three surgeries.”
It comes amid a decision by the hospital to open a new drive-through RAT collection point at the Kirwan Health Campus Monday to Friday from 9am to 3pm.
The service will be run by a “skeleton staff” of only about one or two people, which is “significantly less” than what a PCR testing service would require.
Mr Keyes said there were two infectious diseases units currently operational at the hospital, but they may expand that if high levels of Covid-19 cases persist.
“We have to review our bed allocations for different patient groups routinely, and we will continue to look at what the demand is for Covid-related cases,” he said.
“Right now, the two infectious diseases units are the right number for us. We’ll continue to review that closely as we observe case numbers into the coming weeks.”