Hospitals need emergency care
One in three Queenslanders who need urgent emergency department (ED) care are not seen within the recommended 30 minutes, showing the pressure that our public hospitals are under, AMA Queensland President Professor Chris Perry said today.
About 2,000 Queenslanders a day presented at EDs needing urgent care in 2020-21, but only 65 per cent were seen within half an hour, the AMA 2022 Public Hospital Report Card showed.
“This is on a par with the national average but well below the New South Wales rate of 75 per cent,” AMA Queensland President Professor Chris Perry said today.
“Queenslanders also waited longer than other Australians for elective surgery, with a median 42 days wait compared to Victoria’s 28 days.
“Overall, the Report Card gives Queensland a fail in five out of six measures – showing no improvements in ED waiting times, no improvements in elective surgery waits, and no improvement in Commonwealth funding for public hospitals.
“In fact, Queensland is the only state in which Commonwealth funding did not improve, while State Government funding did improve.
“This shows the need for a better, more sustainable funding model for our public hospitals. Patients and doctors don’t care which side of politics or which level of government provides the funding. They just know that our hospitals need to be resourced to deliver the care that all Queenslanders deserve.”
The Report Card shows a 28-year slide in hospital beds relative to Australia’s ageing population, with Australia losing six public hospital beds for every 1,000 people aged over 65 years since 2008.
“Thirty years ago we had more than 30 beds in our public hospitals per 1,000 people over the age of 65. We now have fewer than 15 and our population is ageing,” AMA President Dr Omar Khorshid said.
“We expect that by 2035 more than one million Australians will be older than 85 – almost double the proportion today. 2035 is not very far away and if we want to save our public hospital system we must act now.
“Our public hospital capacity must be expanded to meet the demands of a population that is increasing in size, age and suffering from multiple chronic health issues. This needs to be backed by greater investment in primary care, giving GPs the support they desperately need to keep people out of hospital.”
During 2020-21, one in three patients across Australia waited longer than 90 days for heart valve replacements or brain surgery for unruptured aneurysms.
One in five patients needing a hip replacement and one in three needing a new knee waited for more than a year.
“Elective does not mean unnecessary,” Prof Perry said.
“We are talking about cancer surgeries and joint replacements that make a huge difference to quality of life.
“These figures don’t even take into account the hidden waiting list between getting a referral from their GP to seeing an out-patient specialist to assess their need for surgery.
“Delaying a minor surgical intervention to improve a child’s hearing may mean they miss crucial time for physical and mental development. This is likely to incur much larger costs throughout their life than the cost of surgery.
“All these costs are covered by taxpayers and should not be seen as separate. We need all levels of government to stop shifting the costs and work together to solve these problems.”
Dr Kim Hansen, Chair of the AMA Queensland Ramping Roundtable, said more investment is urgently needed.
“Queensland has seen a major population increase in the past two years and funding needs to be increased to meet that demand,” Dr Hansen said.
“More funding means more people can be seen and treated on time and there is less suffering. This applies to EDs, outpatient clinics and elective surgery lists.”
The AMA’s Clear the Hospital Logjam campaign is aimed at securing a new funding agreement to improve hospital performance, expand capacity, and address avoidable admissions. This includes moving to a more equitable funding share between the Commonwealth and states and territories, and removing the 6.5 per cent funding cap that constrains the ability of hospitals to meet community demand.
In December 2021, the AMA Queensland Ramping Roundtable released a five-point action plan.
- 1,500 more hospital beds across the state
- Employing and training enough staff to keep acute hospitals fully functional seven days a week, with extended hours
- Keeping hospitals operating at below 90 per cent capacity to allow for surges
- Detailed analysis of patient flow within hospitals
- Supporting alternative ways for patients to enter hospitals instead of through EDs.
The AMA 2022 Public Hospital Report Card is available at www.ama.com.au. The AMA Queensland Ramping Roundtable action plan is available here.