Qld: Calls for elective surgery bans

AAP General News (Australia)
08-28-2008
Qld: Calls for elective surgery bans

BRISBANE, Aug 28 AAP - A Queensland medical emergency specialist is calling for statewide
bans on elective surgery to free up beds.

Australasian College for Emergency Medicine Queensland chairwoman Sylvia Andrew-Starkey
said banning elective surgery, including surgery for cancer patients, would reduce the
waiting list at hospitals.

This follows Townsville's public hospital using ambulances as makeshift beds and cancelling
elective surgery to cope with the demand.

Ms Andrew-Starkey said patients were sitting in waiting rooms and corridors for 24
hours at hospitals.

"Patients don't generally sit in waiting rooms for 24 hours - they sit in corridors,"

she told ABC Radio today.

"This is a regular occurrence. It's been the worst I have seen it in a good number of years.

"Elective surgery is the only thing we have any control over.

"We need something radical, like putting (elective) cancer surgery on hold."

She said the Royal Brisbane and Women's Hospitals, Princess Alexandra and Logan hospitals
are forced to go on bypass, meaning ambulances are redirected to other hospitals because
they could not cope with the number of patients needing beds.

Australian Medical Association Queensland president Dr Chris Davis said banning elective
surgery may become a necessity but he did not agree with it.

"We need to get away from 100 per cent occupancy (at hospitals) and get it down to
80 per cent to cope during the peak demand," Dr Davis said.

"We need about 20 per cent more beds in hospitals across Queensland."

Queensland Health Minister Stephen Robertson said an elective surgery freeze was unnecessary.

"We are building more hospitals. We have open 778 new hospital beds over the last couple
of years, we have opened new emergency departments at Prince Charles Hospital, expanded
the emergency departments at Redcliffe, Caboolture and I could go on," Mr Robertson told
ABC Radio today.

"We have population growth of about two per cent a year yet our emergency department
presentations are increasing by 10 per cent a year and in some parts of the state like
the Gold Coast and Townsville over 30 per cent a year."

Despite this Mr Robertson said the state had the infrastructure to support the population growth.

AAP peb/pjo/jfm/mn

KEYWORD: HEALTH QLD

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