Transcript - Gold Coast hospital bed shortages
Hospitals have hundreds of people who are ready to be discharged but can't go straight home, AMA Queensland President Dr Maria Boulton has told the Today Show.
Transcript: AMA Queensland President, Dr Maria Boulton, Today with Karl Stefanovic and Sarah Abo, Thursday 25 May 2023
Subjects: Gold Coast Hospital and bed shortages
KARL STEFANOVIC: Chronic shortages have forced a Gold Coast hospital to transfer some of their patients to the SeaWorld Resort for care because of overcrowding at their own facility. For more, let's bring in AMA Queensland President Dr Maria Boulton in Brisbane. Doctor, good morning to you. I couldn't quite believe this when I heard it.
DR MARIA BOULTON: Yeah, look, it's always unacceptable for people who need medical care to be transferred out of a hospital. What we've been told is that the people who are using this medi-hotel facility are people who are ready to be discharged. This is a real problem in hospitals. Hospitals have hundreds of people who are waiting for aged care facility beds or waiting for disability packages who can't go home because of that. And we know that the crisis in our hospital system in Queensland is dire. We know that we're short of beds and we have winter upon us and it's a really dreadful situation.
KARL STEFANOVIC: You've got families who are going to this resort. I wonder if there's any chance of infection at this resort, despite what care they've got at hospital, is there any chance of that happening? The fact that people didn't know I find astounding. There are so many things to unpack here.
DR MARIA BOULTON: Yeah. Once again, it's not ideal and it's a sad state of affairs. And we've been having this conversation for a long, time. And the Queensland Government promised us 2,500 new beds at the last budget. That was 12 months ago and we’re still waiting for those beds to be realised.
We know it’s going to take some time. But when you are working in a hospital, when you are working in an emergency department and you’re seeing patients who need a hospital bed and you can’t put them in a hospital bed and they’re waiting in an emergency department for far longer than they need to – I don’t know where we would be if it wasn’t for those wonderful doctors and nurses who are doing everything they possibly can.
KARL STEFANOVIC: Alright doctor, thank you for that.
