Katter warns on hospital funding

NORTH Queensland hospitals’ collective code yellow could be an indication of a bigger problem, Katter’s Australian

Party leader Robbie Katter has said.

On Tuesday, Mackay, Townsville, Cairns and Mount Isa hospitals all entered a code yellow. The code is an internal emergency and makes sure there is a wholeof-hospital approach to responding to the acute capacity constraint.

In the past three months, there have been four code yellows at the Townsville University Hospital, with capacity constraints at the centre of the issue.

Mr Katter (pictured) believes there are bigger problems within the regional health systems, with the pandemic putting additional constraints on hospitals.

The Traeger MP said he had been pushing for more funding for regional hospitals well before the pandemic. Mr Katter said the pandemic had put a “spotlight” on the issue, and Mount Isa was “ground zero”.

Earlier this year the state government sacked the North West Hospital and Health Service board, which Mr Katter said was because it couldn’t meet a demand for $7m in productivity savings.

“Surprisingly, now we have a little bit of pressure on us, and we’re wholly exposed,” he said. Mr Katter said for one of those hospitals to have a code yellow was not “terribly alarming”. “(But) having all of them at once when we haven’t even had any (Covid-19) outbreaks is highly alarming.”

Mr Katter said forcing the vaccination of the Queensland Health workforce was the more budget friendly model.