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Questions Without Notice Questions without notice are asked of Ministers and answered during Question Time.
Relocation of Robina Hospital's palliative care unit |
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| Posted by Administrator (admin) on Jun 07 2007 |
| Questions Without Notice >> |
Mr Lawlor asked the Minister for Health Stephen Robertson:
Question My question without notice is to the Minister for Health. Notwithstanding a similar question from the opposition, can the minister inform the House about the positive benefits to the Gold
Coast health services that will be achieved by relocating Robina Hospital's palliative care unit to Southport?
Answer I thank the member for the question. As he rightly pointed out, I have covered a lot of what I wanted to say in relation to this issue but I will complete my answer before I move on toother matters. I was saying that palliative care was the most appropriate unit to move to Pacific Private because the Robina ward was previously used as an in-patient mental health unit during the
refurbishment of the Southport wards. The ward at Pacific Private is not suitable for mental health patients for security reasons.
It has been suggested that it would be better to relocate cancer patients occupying the 19-bed oncology ward at the Gold Coast Hospital. This option has already been explored and deemed
inappropriate. Moving the palliative care unit at Robina causes the least disruption as it requires only one service to be moved. I am informed that senior staff of the Gold Coast health service will be
speaking to patients and relatives of carers this week.
I take this opportunity to return to the issue raised by the Leader of the Opposition earlier today.
Once again, what we see is the Leader of the Opposition being very, very slippery with the truth. In expressing obvious sympathy to the gentleman who wrote to the member for Callide, I can say that what
we saw this morning was of course a very edited version of the response provided to the Leader of the opposition in my comprehensive letter of reply on this particular issue.
This case involves an elderly woman aged 91 years. She woke with severe pain in her leg and she had been discharged from Murgon Hospital a week earlier. Her husband dialled 000 and was
advised that an ambulance would transport them to Kingaroy Hospital. They arrived at approximately 10.30 am. This matter has been appropriately investigated by the district manager who has informed
me-and, indeed, the Leader of the Opposition-that the investigation confirmed that there was no delay in initial assessment of the deceased woman. She was appropriately triaged on her arrival by a
registered nurse-
She was appropriately triaged by a registered nurse as non-urgent triage category 5. This category is the lowest of category 1 to 5, where a patient's condition is minor enoughthat symptoms or clinical outcomes would not be significantly affected if assessment and treatment are delayed and minimal pain with no features are evident. The investigation indicated that she was made comfortable and her immediate needs were attended to by nursing staff. I understand that both husband and wife were provided with food and drink throughout the waiting period. The doctor spoke with the husband on several brief occasions assuring them that his wife would be seen as soon as possible.
The investigation reveals that the doctor spoke with the husband
on several brief occasions, assuring him that he would see his wife as soon as possible. Unfortunately, more urgent emergency activity of category 1 to 3 patients required the doctor's most immediate
medical attention during this time, including a trauma situation requiring a medical response- remembering that the triage assessment of the lady put her at the lowest category, that is, category 5.
I am further advised that the deceased was seen at Kingaroy Hospital by the doctor at 3.20 pm- not at 4.15 as alleged by the Leader of the Opposition. Ambulance transport for a private admission at
Murgon Hospital was arranged at this time for anticipated nursing home type care-I repeat, nursing home type care. That is why I was able to assure the Leader of the Opposition that there was no delay
in arranging ambulance transport-that is, it was not an emergency admission situation; she was being transported for nursing type care. The deceased was transferred to Murgon-
She was transferred to Murgon via ambulance and arrived at the hospital at 8.45 pm. I am advised that the wait for an ambulance was within Queensland Ambulance Service guidelines for a step-down transfer where 24 hours notice is usually required. The advice provided to the Leader of the Opposition-and this is contrary to what he made out this morning-was that if the husband had contacted his GP rather than the Queensland Ambulance Service for an emergency response it would have been normal practice for the GP to have admitted his wife directly into Murgon as a private patient. I did not recommend, as the Leader of the Opposition alleged, that he should have contacted his GP for an emergency response. That was outrageously dishonest on his part-once again.
As the ambulance was contacted as an emergency transfer, the woman was transported to the nearest facility with appropriate medical support, which was Kingaroy Hospital. It should be noted that
the deceased tragically passed away 10 days later-I say again, 10 days later.
This is obviously a distressing case, particularly for the husband, and our hearts and thoughts go out to him. I make this offer to the gentleman: I will have Queensland's Chief Health Officer contact him and work through these issues with him. The husband has certain rights, particularly in lodging a complaint. If he is dissatisfied with the explanation that is provided to him, he can go to the Health Quality and Complaints Commission if he so desires. As is appropriate in an instance like this, I will get the Chief Health Officer to contact the gentleman personally and work through these issues in this way. I think that is an appropriate way to proceed on a very sensitive matter such as this. I must say that no credit goes to the Leader of the Opposition for his performance this morning. Last changed: [PUBLISHED_DATE] at 9:23 AM
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