April 18, 2024
Member for Nanango Deb Frecklington says she is concerned the promised short stay unit at Kingaroy Hospital is still not open.
“It has been three years now since the new Emergency Department was opened at the Kingaroy Hospital and since this time the four-bed short stay unit has been unavailable,” Mrs Frecklington said.
“These beds are counted as hospital beds but they can’t be used.
“I asked the Minister in 2022 when the unit would be opened, and my follow-up question this year questioned why it remains closed.”
On April 4, Health Minister Shannon Fentiman replied that initial modelling by Darling Downs Health indicated a short stay unit would not need to be implemented immediately, however planning was now under way to support the opening of the unit in the 2024-25 financial year.
“Darling Downs Hospital and Health Service reviewed the Kingaroy Hospital emergency presentations which included the presentation volume and triage categorisation, as per the Australasian Triage Categorisation Scale,” Minister Fentiman said.
“The analysis of the presentations and consideration of various models of care has been utilised to determine the most suitable model for the short stay unit at Kingaroy Hospital. Short stay units or clinical decision units operate effectively when there are solid foundations across the patient’s care journey.
“Kingaroy Hospital has focused on recruiting to critical vacancies across several areas of the hospital to ensure adequately skilled and experienced staff are embedded within the hospital to support effective operationalisation of any new models of care.
“Kingaroy Hospital are now undergoing the annual nursing Business Planning Framework to ensure appropriate resources are allocated to support the opening of the Short Stay Unit in the 2024-25 financial year.”
Mrs Frecklington said that while she understood the need for planning, it was “extremely disappointing that this process is taking so long”.
“We know our hard-working doctors and nurses are under huge pressures at the Kingaroy Hospital and the availability of the Short Stay Unit would help reduce some of this load,” Mrs Frecklington said.
