CAIRNS Hospital could be put under ongoing strain for more than a month as staff wait for Block D to become available. The Queensland Nurses’ Union accused administrators of a combination of poor planning and a lack of staff which led to Escalation Level 3 being declared on Monday. Cairns and Hinterland Hospital and Health Service Acting Chief Operating Officer Mary Streatfield continued to denounce the accusations yesterday, but said that until Block D was available there could “possibly” be further issues. The opening was delayed last month for six weeks due to electrical problems. “We have been under pressure for the last few weeks,” she said. “What we need to do is we need to be able to expand our capacity, and that’s moving into Block D. “In Block D we will have more capacity to address the demand issues by flexing up and down with demand.” She said that patients were not being put at risk by the current situation.