President and CEO Update November 2021

 

Vaccination rates have picked up and Queensland’s borders are soon to reopen, but the emergence of the Omicron strain shows that the COVID pandemic is far from over. While there is much to learn about this variant, including how infectious it is, the severity of illness, and how effective our current vaccines are, the State Government remains committed to its roadmap to reopening. AMA Queensland has concerns about how our already overstretched hospitals will cope with inevitable COVID outbreaks, and we continue to advocate for urgent solutions to bed block and emergency department ramping.

 

COVID-19

AMA Queensland welcomes the State Government’s decision to mandate COVID-19 vaccinations for all public and private health care workers. We believe it is vital that everyone working in any health care setting is fully vaccinated. We advocated for the mandate publicly and behind closed doors for months.

The AMA Queensland Workplace Relations team hosted a COVID-19 vaccine mandate live webinar for workers in medical private practice and private hospitals, to help our members navigate the directive.

Health care workers by definition work with and around vulnerable people. Some people can’t be vaccinated for medical reasons, and must be protected from infection. 

We also know that it is complex for small employers like GPs and other private specialists to meet the legalities required to mandate vaccinations for their employees, and we are pleased that the State Government heeded our calls and showed leadership in this area.

While we did not call for mandatory vaccinations in other sectors, we support the Government’s decision to mandate vaccines for workers in schools, child care centres, airports, and correctional facilities.

Teachers and child care centre staff work with children who are too young to be vaccinated. The Indooroopilly cluster in July showed us how an outbreak can close schools, infect teachers, and lead to thousands of people having to self-isolate for weeks.

RESIDENT HOSPITAL HEALTH CHECK

This year’s Resident Hospital Health Check – a collaboration between AMA Queensland’s Council of Doctors in Training (CDT) and ASMOFQ (Australian Salaried Medical Officers’ Federation Queensland) – showed how COVID has contributed to fatigue and stress for junior doctors, with more than half fearing that exhaustion on the job will lead to them making medical mistakes.

The survey of 808 interns, house officers and other doctors in training found that 51 per cent cited fatigue due to working excessively long hours as a significant concern, up from 48 per cent in 2020 and 46 per cent in 2019.

The upward trend is a wakeup call for our hospital system, particularly as almost one in three survey respondents said they had felt unsafe at work this year, up from one in five two years ago.

We also need to do much more to ensure that doctors in training are paid properly for all the hours they work without fearing that overtime claims could negatively affect their assessment.

AMA Queensland is continuing to advocate for Government funding to expand the Wellbeing at Work program to all doctors in both the public and private sectors, to support doctors’ mental health and wellbeing.

While the State Budget did not include the $1.97 million we asked for, we are calling on the Government to urgently re-examine the case in the wake of these latest results. Read our full budget submission to the State Government. 

PUBLIC HOSPITALS

As we prepare to release our Ramping Roundtable’s Action Plan, the AMA Public Hospital Report Card 2021 shows the increasing pressure that Queensland’s health system will face when borders reopen.

While the Report Card shows Queensland hospitals’ performance has marginally improved over the past few years, these figures cover a time when hospitals were largely shut down due to COVID.

“Even with dramatically reduced patient volumes last year, our hospitals were still overwhelmed,” AMA Queensland President Professor Chris Perry said today.

“When our borders open on 17 December, and we get inevitable outbreaks of COVID-19, we are going to see more pressure on our emergency departments.

“Most intensive care patients who need ventilating are there for a couple of days. Most COVID patients on ventilation are there for at least a couple of weeks.

“Resources are already at capacity and a vaccinated patient who’s been in a car accident and might need two days in ICU may have limited access due to an unvaccinated patient who might need ventilation and intensive care for a month.

“Medical professionals will always give care to patients, no matter their circumstances. All we ask is that the community considers how they can best take care of themselves and each other.”

AMA Queensland’s Ramping Roundtable is putting together an action plan for Queensland Health to ease the pressure on emergency departments ahead of the border reopening.

This includes having more staff to manage beds in wards so that patients can move from emergency departments more quickly, freeing up beds to avoid situations like last month’s unprecedented declaration of Code Yellows at four North Queensland hospitals on the same day.

AMA Queensland is also calling for public health orders to mandate COVID vaccinations for all health care workers, not just those employed by Queensland Health.

“GPs and other specialists in private practice need to ensure that their staff are fully vaccinated,” AMA Queensland Council of General Practice Chair, Dr Maria Boulton, said.

“As a GP, I know that my staff are fully vaccinated. As a mum, I want to know that children who are too young to be vaccinated are safe.”

Queensland figures: 

• The percentage of emergency department urgent patients seen within 30 minutes rose from 61 per cent to 71 per cent.
• Emergency department visits completed within four hours or less rose slightly from 70 per cent to 71 per cent, just ahead of the national average of 69 per cent.
• Category 2 elective surgery patients admitted within the recommended days fell from 92 per cent to 88 per cent, representing a continuing decline since 2016-17.

The AMA Public Hospital Report Card 2021 can be viewed here.

PARLIMENTARY INQUIRY INTO HEALTH SYSTEM

The parliamentary inquiry into the problems in Queensland’s health care system must look at issues of state funding, not just areas of commonwealth responsibility, AMA Queensland President Professor Chris Perry said.

Health Minister Yvette D’Ath announced the Health and Environment Committee inquiry on 17 November, with a reporting date of 31 March 2022 and a focus on Medicare rebates, Commonwealth Distribution Priority Areas, and the availability of medical training places.

Prof Perry said he welcomed any review of the health system, but it had to look at the system as a whole.

“When I first heard it, I thought great, they’re listening,” Prof Perry told ABC Radio.

“But then I realised it was just a one-way street, and we weren’t looking at the issues involved with Queensland and the lack of funding there.”

The AMA Queensland submission to the inquiry will focus on the problems with State funding over the past 30 years, as well as Federal responsibilities.

“We know Australia is down about 6,500 beds for public hospitals, and that translates in Queensland to about 1,500 beds that need to be built,” he said.

“The State Government may want this inquiry just to be on Federal Government issues, which are considerable, but it will also bring to mind the shortfalls and where money needs to be spent in the State Government.

“Everybody knows about the waiting lists. It’s difficult for people to get in to see a specialist, it’s difficult to get in to accident and emergency, and you’re on a fairly long waiting list to have surgery.

“Our State Government spends much more on health care on a population basis than the national average, but we have lots of little hospitals in small to medium-sized cities and towns throughout the most decentralised state of the country.

“So it is more expensive here, but our services aren’t great by any means.”

AMA Queensland’s Ramping Roundtable is preparing to launch its action plan for resolving bed block and hospital log jams.

CABOOLTURE HOSPITAL REVIEW

Gaps in culture and data were found in the Independent Governance Review into the Caboolture Hospital released last week.
 
AMA Queensland recognises the work of ASMOFQ (Australian Salaried Medical Officers' Federation Queensland) who have been working with doctors and the Metro North Hospital and Health Service (HHS), to ensure members’ voices and concerns were included in the review process.
 
We welcome the findings and the 19 recommendations, and note that no individual doctor was found to be at fault in the report. We call on Metro North HHS to swiftly implement these recommendations to address the operational and cultural issues at Caboolture Hospital, which have also been confirmed by our members.
 
Importantly, we believe that a strong, healthy organisational culture is vital to ensure that doctors can provide care to their patients with the highest levels of quality and safety.
 
In addition, accurate data and transparent reporting which have driven improvements in other HHSs, need to be a key area of focus here as well.

Finally, we also welcome and acknowledge Metro North HHS’s openness and transparency throughout this review process, and we will continue to advocate for transparency, as well as fairness and thoroughness, in all hospital reviews that occur within Queensland Health.
 
You can read the full report here.
 
AMA Queensland is proud to stand with ASMOFQ to represent members. 

Every day, ASMOFQ represents Queensland doctors – standing up for your workplace rights, maintaining and enhancing your working conditions, supporting you in times of need and broadly advancing the medical profession in the state of Queensland.

YOUNG AUSTRALIAN OF THE YEAR

AMA Queensland member and psychiatric registrar Dr Tahnee Bridson has been named Queensland’s Young Australian of the Year 2022 for her work in promoting mental health care and wellbeing for health care workers.

Dr Bridson, 29, founded Hand-n-Hand Peer Support, a free and confidential service for doctors and nurses struggling with the growing emotional burden of the COVID-19 pandemic.

What started as a four-person WhatsApp group chat 18 months ago has grown into a network of 2,500 health care workers across Australia and New Zealand, with one-on-one and group support to head off burnout and mental health issues.

In her acceptance speech, Dr Bridson said the high rates of suicide and mental health issues in doctors and other health care workers have been an unknown problem for too long.

“Having experienced difficulties myself and finding it really difficult to get help, I just wanted to make it easier, and I wanted those statistics to change, and it’s something I still want to fight for,” she said.

Dr Bridson, from Mareeba in Far North Queensland, is now in the running to be named Young Australian of the Year at the national awards, to be announced in Canberra on 25 January 2022.

You can read more about her in the Summer edition of Doctor Q out soon.

AMA QUEENSLAND FOUNDATION CHRISTMAS APPEAL

The AMA Queensland Foundation is proudly supporting Juiced TV for this year’s Christmas Appeal with the aim to raise $25,000 for a new, high-end, broadcast quality camera.

Juiced TV is an Australian-first program that provides the opportunity for patients and their siblings to star in their own show and share their hospital journey in an empowering and positive way, creating and connecting a community of hospital heroes.

This year, the AMA Queensland Foundation want to give Juiced TV the best Christmas present, a brand new camera, so they can continue to grow their initiative and bring a smile to the faces of more children in hospital and their families.

Donate here.

AROUND THE STATE

We attended the recent Redcliffe Local Medical Association Christmas party where President Prof Chris Perry met with doctors in this community and spoke about our year of advocacy for the profession.

Of special note was the band The Three Amigos, featuring Dr Geoff Harding and Dr Michael Kennedy, the new President of Doctors’ Health Advisory Service.

We are happy to attend local medical association meetings across the state so please get in touch if you would like us to speak at your event.