Report exposes Qld hospital wait times

One in three emergency patients are waiting longer than eight hours to be admitted
to a bed for treatment at Queensland hospitals, new figures show.
Data on "access block" - the time it takes for emergency room patients to be
admitted to a bed - has been included in the latest quarterly Queensland hospital
performance report.
The figures show that of all emergency patients requiring a bed, 64 per cent were
admitted within eight hours, with the average wait being 6.2 hours.
This was up from 62 per cent during the same time last year.
Queensland Health Minister Paul Lucas said that although eight hours was a long time
to wait, patients were being treated during that time and sometimes in a bed if
necessary.
"It is not sitting in a chair, it is under treatment, and frequently you don't want
to send someone to the ward straight away until their condition is stabilised, until
you establish what the relevant tests are," Mr Lucas told reporters.
"Of course, as we build more beds, of course, with better management strategies and
those sorts of things, that will improve that through-put."
The report showed Queensland had the third shortest emergency waiting times in
Australia, and treated more than 24,700 patients in its emergency rooms, and
increase of 3.4 per cent on last year.
Opposition health spokesman Mark McArdle said the emergency room waiting times were
a "disgrace".
"In my opinion, by failing to plan, they have planned to fail," he said in a statement.
"Where are the resources, manpower and services required for a growing Queensland?
"Labor's ad hoc approach to health planning is downright dangerous for patient health."
In elective surgery, a record 33,125 patients had surgery in the quarter, with the
Surgery Connect program, which uses private resources, helping the state achieve the
shortest waiting times in Australia.
The report included data on radiation oncology for the first time.
While Royal Brisbane and Womens, Princess Alexandra and Mater hospitals met the
benchmarks, Townsville Hospital in the state's north did not.
Patients who should have been treated within 10 working days waited 17 days in
Townsville, and patients who should have been seen within 20 working days waited 27
days.
Mr Lucas said this was due to problems in recruiting staff in the regional area.