An audit of Queensland Health has found more than 3500 Queenslanders, with imminently life-threatening conditions, presented at one of the state’s new Satellite Hospitals, which were not set up to provide acute emergency care.
The independent Queensland Audit Office Health 2024 report also found patients spent almost 160,000 waiting in ambulances outside emergency departments in 2023-24 and long waits for specialist outpatient care had risen 29 percent in past nine years.
State Health Minister Tim Nicholls said confusion continued when it came to Satellite Hospitals, with 3513 patients with “immediately or imminently life-threatening” conditions presenting at them last year.
Minister Nicholls said this included patients in need of emergency care for major heart attacks, anaphylaxis, massive trauma injuries, seizures, and strokes.
He said Satellite Hospitals would be renamed to prevent patient confusion.
“We have been consulting with clinicians on the right name for these facilities and will have more to say on this in the coming weeks.”
Minister Nicholls said the report also revealed more than one third of Queensland Health buildings needed to be replaced within the next 10 years, at a cost of $2 billion.
