Hospitals hit ‘extreme capacity’, patients wait

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AMBULANCE patients from Gympie to Caboolture were forced to queue outside hospital for beds last night, with every hospital in the Sunshine Coast region at “extreme capacity”, the union claims.

United Voice says there were no emergency department beds available at Caloundra, Nambour, Gympie and Caboolture hospitals, forcing ambulance officers to go “hospital shopping”.

At one stage during the night, more than half the region’s ambulance fleet was parked outside Nambour General Hospital either offloading or waiting for patients.

The situation has been described as “chaos”, with the union blaming a lack of ED staffing for the backlog.

There was no major incident on the coast that sparked a rise in patient numbers, other than the usual random medical emergencies.

“There are simply not enough staff or resources in our hospitals on the Sunshine Coast to cope with demand. It’s nights like last night, where we are inundated with cases that this really becomes a massive problem,” said United Voice delegate Peter Griffey said.

“There was chaos yesterday with every single Emergency Department full to capacity. Ambulance officers were forced to go from hospital to hospital. It was a disaster.”

Mr Griffey said ambulances were ramped at most hospitals, while several paramedics had to work shift extensions and had difficulty getting a break.

“At one stage an ambulance officer was ramped outside a hospital for an hour and a half last night. It was like we were back in the bad old days when we had out of control ramping every day,” Mr Griffey said.

“Recommendations from an expert group, set up to tackle the problem of ramping, were implemented last year and there have been huge improvements. However, unfortunately when there are busy days, the same old issues resurface.

“We saw during the last school holidays that a similar situation occurred where once again all hospitals were at extreme capacity due to the high volume of cases. It’s not acceptable and it’s not safe.

“It’s time for Queensland Health to address the problem and provide adequate resources for our Emergency Departments or this sort of chaos will become more and more frequent.”

According to the union, there have also been cases of ramping in Brisbane, Rockhampton, Townsville and Cairns in recent months.

Queensland Health is preparing a statement in response to today’s claim.

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