The LNP has outlined a three-phase Easier Access to Health Services Plan to end Labor’s Health Crisis, driving down ambulance ramping and waitlists for elective surgery and specialists, and restoring health services when you need them.
The LNP’s plan will diagnose the underlying causes of Labor’s Health Crisis, treat the symptoms to ease pressure on our hospitals and provide a long-term cure to properly resource our health system to meet the needs of our growing State.
The LNP’s $590.09 million Easier Access to Health Services Plan, is in addition to the current health budget across the forward years:
Diagnose ($30 million of additional funding)
- Deliver health metrics and targets: reduce ambulance ramping to below 30% by the end of next term of government; stabilise waitlists within 12 months.
- Real-time health data: upgrade technology to deliver real-time health data for key health metrics including number of available hospital beds, patients waiting for treatment and busiest times at Emergency Departments.
- Better hospital flows: upgrade to the latest digital hospital mapping technology to improve hospital workflows and maximise availability of hospital beds.
- Systemwide health workforce plan: to identify existing gaps in primary care and meet the needs of the health system into the future.
Treat ($111.91 million of additional funding,excluding our plan to Stop Labor’s Patients’ Tax)
- Stop Labor’s Patients’ Tax: preventing rising costs of doctor visits and protecting local GP services, saving bulk billing and easing pressure on hospitals.
- Emergency department parallel processing: to deliver better triaging by embedding specialist mental health nurses in triaging stations to help streamline mental health patients to in-patient wards.
- 7-day discharges: offering doctors in Acute Admission units improved conditions (25% loading) to ensure hospitals are fully operational seven days a week and patients aren’t kept waiting to leave hospital when they’re ready.
- Transit lounges: expanding transit lounges with a boost to allied health, pharmacy and transport services for when you’re ready to go home.
- Boosting AOD rehabilitation: withstatewide stocktake of Alcohol and Other Drug rehabilitation services to identify where additional capacity can be funded and activated.
Cure ($448.18 million of additional funding, not including the existing hospital build funding or additional clinicians)
- Frontline staff on health boards: frontline staff added to the board of every Health and Hospital Service to put doctors, nurses and allied health professionals back in charge of our hospitals.
- More CT and MRI machines: an extra 9 CT and 6 MRI machines, to free-up hospital beds and bolster ‘satellite hospital’ and regional hospital services.
- Fast-tracking trainee clinicians into paid work: withtrainee clinicians in ongoing paid positions in hospitals, in partnership with universities, to get real experience faster and secure a pipeline of health workers for our hospitals.
- Educating the next generation of health workers: with a new Queensland Academy of Health Sciences in Rockhampton to fast-track high school students into health careers.
- More doctors, nurses and paramedics: 34,200 extra clinicians by 2032, including 18,700 nurses and midwives, by continuing the current pipeline and getting the attrition rate back to historical averages from the current high of over 6%.
- Regional GP access to specialist advice: with an expanded eConsultant service for regional and rural GPs to tap into specialist advice on complex patient issues, reducing referral to specialist wait lists.
- Reinstating maternity services: reopening maternity services at Biloela and Cooktown Hospitals which were closed on Labor’s watch.
- Step Up, Step Down mental health facilities: investing the mental health levy into new youth mental health support services with two new Step Up, Step Down services.
- New hospital beds: completing the existing hospital build and expansion program to complement the beds freed-up through better management of hospitals.
LNP Leader David Crisafulli said the LNP’s targeted three-phase plan would heal Labor’s Health Crisis and restore health services when you need them.
“Queenslanders deserve a world class health system no matter where they live and the LNP will restore health services when you need them with more doctors and nurses, better triaging, better services and real-time health data,” Mr Crisafulli said.
“Our plan will diagnose where intensive investment needs to be directed in our hospitals to treat and cure Labor’s Health Crisis with transparent and accurate data in real time.
“Real-time data will not only deliver accountability it will allow us to identify where the pressure points are, targeting funding to heal them.
“The LNP will also free-up hospital beds with streamlined triaging, embedding mental health specialist nurses at triage stations to fast-track mental health patients into hospital treatment.
“Boosting doctors in acute admissions units over the weekend and delivering expanded transit lounges will save patients from waiting to leave hospital and free-up hospital beds faster.
“Queensland’s ‘satellite hospitals’ will be bolstered with additional CT and MRI services for referred patients available 7 days a week, taking critical pressure off our struggling emergency departments. They will also be appropriately renamed in consultation with medical experts.”
Shadow Minister for Health Ros Bates said a decade of Labor had delivered the sky-high ambulance ramping, record waitlists and a Health Crisis that had cost Queenslanders their lives.
“Labor has failed to resource and run our hospitals for a decade which has led to the worst ambulance ramping in the nation,” Ms Bates said.
“Labor’s Health Crisis is not the fault of our hardworking doctors and nurses, it’s the result of a decade of underinvestment and disempowering our frontline staff who know best about our communities and our hospitals.
“Nothing will change unless we change the government, only an LNP Government will end Labor’s Health Crisis.
“Our state needs a fresh start and the only LNP has the Right Plan for Queensland’s Future.”
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