Opposition releases Health Minister’s official briefings

Queenslanders can read the documents here

The Opposition has today released months of the Health Minister's official briefing documents, so Queenslanders have access to the same information the Health Minister does.

The briefing documents covering the period from March to June 2022 have exposed the extent of the Queensland Heath Crisis and raised serious questions about what the embattled Health Minister Yvette D’Ath has been telling Queenslanders.

The 95 pages of documents show a damning divide between what information the Health Minister is seeing and what she is telling Queenslanders publicly.

They confirm the anecdotal reports from the staff who've told the Opposition about their frustrations.

The Opposition has promoted open data in government and believe Queenslanders deserve to see the truth about the Queensland Health Crisis in real time.

The briefing documents expose that:

• In March, April, May and June not once did the Palaszczuk Government meet their Category 1A, 1B, 1C, 2A or 2B response time target.
• In only one weekly report did the Palaszczuk Government meet its Category 2C, 3 and 4 response time target.
• In March, April, May and June not once did the Palaszczuk Government meet its target of answering 90% of triple zero calls within 10 seconds.
• At times, more than 16% of all triple zero calls weren’t being answered in 10 seconds.
• In the 2021/22 financial year, Queensland paramedics and their patients were being ramped for more than 357 hours every single day.
• Paramedics and patients were ramped for nearly 123,757 hours last financial year (a 10% increase on the previous financial year)
• 15,696 hours lost at Logan Hospital
• 14,278 hours lost at Ipswich Hospital
• 10,040 hours lost at the PA Hospital
• 8,269 hours lost at GCUH
• The average time paramedics and patients spent waiting on ramps is getting worse.
• At the end of June 2022, 22 of the state’s 26 largest hospitals saw the average ramping time increase compared to the previous financial year.
• In June, it was taking paramedics an average of:

                  · 66.6 minutes to offload patients at Redland Hospital
                  · 57.1 minutes to offload patients at Logan Hospital
                  · 54 minutes to offload patients at Ipswich Hospital
                  · 50.7 minutes to offload patients at the PA Hospital

Leader of the Opposition David Crisafulli said openness and transparency matters.

“I believe Queenslanders deserve to see this information, not just the Health Minister,” Mr Crisafulli said.

“Now that Queenslanders have access to this information, I’m sure they’ll be shocked at the disparity between the information the Health Minister receives and what she says to Queenslanders.

“Yvette D’Ath covered up the severity of the Queensland Health Crisis to save her own political skin.

“We won’t stop fighting for a world class health system and we won’t stop sharing information that Queenslanders deserve to see.

“Our paramedics are fatigued and they’re frustrated from spending hour after hour ramped at our overcrowded hospitals.”

Shadow Health Minister Ros Bates said the documents exposed the full extent of the Queensland Health Crisis.

“Queenslanders deserve to know the truth,” Ms Bates said.

“Category 1 patients are Queenslanders who need urgent and lifesaving treatment.

“In these scenarios, minutes matter.

“For nearly a week Yvette D’Ath has been missing.

“She has turned her back on paramedics and patients.

“As a nurse and former hospital administrator, I know how stressful it is on the frontline.

“My colleagues are working themselves to the brink of exhaustion and morale is at an all-time low.”