Vax gap at hospitals

MORE than 1000 Townsville Hospital and Health Service (THHS) staff do not have a definitive vaccination status, according to new data.

The THHS has revealed that 82.19 per cent of staff have demonstrated proof of receiving at least one Covid-19 vaccination.

This comes a week after the state government’s mandated Covid-19 vaccination cut off on Thursday last week.

Across the state, 11 per cent of Queensland’s Health’s 90,000 hospital-based workforce remained unvaccinated at the beginning of this week.

Earlier this year, the state government announced that all staff in Queensland hospitals must receive the Covid-19 vaccine.

The 2019-20 annual report says the service has 6499 staff employed across the health service. Based on this figure, about 5341 staff have identified that they are vaccinated.

Some staff have sought exemptions to the mandate, with the service now considering the requests.

This comes as four hospitals in the North Queensland region have experienced a code yellow.

Townsville, Mackay, Mount Isa and Cairns all declared code yellows on Tuesday to free up beds after all the hospitals experienced an influx of patients.

While there was a suggestion the number of staff affected by the state government’s Covid-19 vaccine mandate could have contributed to the issue, the THHS has said this was not the case.

Chief executive Kieran Keyes said the staff vaccination rate was not a factor in the code yellow, which was deactivated on Wednesday morning.

“More than 82 per cent of our staff have had at least their first vaccination,” Mr Keyes said.

“As data on staff who have received the vaccine is continuing to be collated, it’s expected this percentage will continue to rise.

“Some staff have applied for exemptions to the mandate and these are being considered. Staff currently on leave will have their vaccination status validated on their return.”

Mr Keyes said it was difficult to predict when there would be a surge in patients who were acutely unwell.

“Activating a code yellow accelerates a whole-of-hospital response that involves the emergency department, medical and surgical wards, theatres, and discharge planners,” Mr Keyes said. “The response is managed by the incident management team chaired by the chief operating officer.”