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LNP calls for end to hospital blame game

Queensland's opposition has called for an end to the "blame game" over hospital waiting times.

2 min read

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Source: AAP


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The Queensland government must stop blaming Canberra for the long wait times at a major hospital in the state's southeast, the opposition says.

Patients need to wait on average 20 minutes before they are seen at Logan Hospital, which is double the recommended time.

The Labor government - claiming a lack of available beds is behind the bottleneck - is engaged in a long-running argument with the Commonwealth over a gap in federal hospital funding.

However LNP health spokeswoman Ros Bates says it needs to stop playing the "blame game".

"We're putting all of our frontline staff under pressure, if they're trying to get patients off trolleys into the ED, from the ED into the ward or theatre, and then you've got the poor staff on the wards trying to move patients out," Ms Bates told reporters on Monday.

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"That's when mistakes happen and that's when you have adverse patient outcomes because patients are being moved too quickly. We need to make sure there are additional beds if they are required."

Asked about the issue on Monday, Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said more than 90 per cent of people presenting to Queensland hospitals were seen within the recommended time-frame.

"Sometimes those time-frames get pushed out when people have more complicated issues," she said.

"We also know we need more capacity and that's why we're investing in the expansion of the Logan Hospital."

That expansion, announced during Labor's re-election campaign in November, will see 192 new beds and a new maternity unit added to the facility.


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