David Crisafulli is going to rename Queensland’s satellite hospitals to ‘avoid confusion’.
The Queensland government will go ahead with a review of the state’s satellite hospitals – a review which was ordered by former Labor minister for health, Shannon Fentiman, prior to the state election last October.
Yesterday the premier, David Crisafulli, said it was not his government’s intention to cut the satellite hospitals’ capacity, but in fact to expand them, promising to add MRI and CT facilities, employ more staff and increase capacity.
According to a letter from Queensland Health to AMAQ, the review will be a “comprehensive evaluation”, with consultation due to get underway any day.
The review will look at service models, security risk assessment, and the distribution of workforce and funding resources across the seven satellite hospitals, according to the Courier Mail.
AMAQ president Dr Nick Yim told the Courier the medical body had “strongly advocated” for the satellite hospitals to be co-designed with GPs and primary health care providers to avoid the poaching of staff.
“We will work with Queensland Health to provide input to their evaluation of satellite hospitals and use it as an opportunity to share our members’ perspectives on satellite hospitals with the goal of mitigating these risks,” Dr Yim was quoted as saying.
But, for now, top of the government’s to-do list is to rename satellite hospitals.
“The name ‘satellite hospital’ has led to confusion in the community about what services are available at these facilities,” said health minister Tim Nicholls back on Boxing Day when the government released results of a survey of 2780 Queensland Health staff asking for their name ideas.
The survey suggested names including satellite health centre, community health hub, community health service, satellite health hub or ambulatory health service and allowed for other suggestions.
Alternative names suggested included options such as minor injury and illness clinics, urgent care centre, community health centre or health care hub.
Some also proposed names such as healthcare service, health service or health support service.
The government is expected to announce the name change by the end of this month.
Yesterday the government announced that more than 130,000 people presented to satellite hospitals in just over a year.
Between July and September 2024 almost 2000 category one and two patients turned up to six satellite hospitals across the southeast of the state, up from 1578 patients the previous quarter.
Another 10,424 category three patients attended satellite hospitals instead of an emergency department.
Cairns radiology clinic closes
Women in far north Queensland are being forced to wait up to four months to get a screening mammogram following the temporary departure of Queensland X-ray from Cairns in November, leaving I-MED Radiology as the only provider in town.
Cairns Hospital outsources diagnostic breast cancer services to private clinics, meaning asymptomatic women are paying between $600 and $800 per appointment to get a diagnosis.
If a patient cannot pay, the only option is to be referred by their GP back to the hospital, which then refers them to I-MED – a process that can take up to four months.
For those who can, another option is to fly to Brisbane.
Dr Yim said the Cairns situation was symptomatic of workforce shortages across the country.
“It’s actually a health workforce shortage across the whole world, and particularly in some specialities, and radiology is one of them,” Dr Yim told ABC Radio Brisbane yesterday.
“Unfortunately, it’s something where in regional and rural Queensland we are feeling more of the brunt.
“We are working with Queensland Health and the government to look at strategies. There are frustrations of getting access to diagnostic imaging, and this potentially can delay treatments for that individual.
“We’re looking at different models of care. Areas such as the regions, we might need to look at public-private agreements to look at strategies to ensure that people in the regions can access timely investigation and timely treatment.”