2 min read
The Queensland Government is happy to blame anyone but themselves for mismanagement in the healthcare system, they have no solutions. The Nurses Professional Association of Queensland does, if the nurses at each hospital elected two of their own to every board none of this would happen.
Doctor, nurse and healthcare workers shortages are a combination of factors which have created a huge blowout in the number of patients waiting longer than clinically recommended to get the treatment they need.
When over 272,000 Queenslanders are waiting for surgery or dying on the wait-list it is time for solutions, yet the Queensland Health bureaucrats do not have any.
Queensland Health is blaming the backlog on workforce challenges, the ageing population and Queenslanders pulling out of private health cover. The fact is that they are the problem.
When an organization is rife with nepotism, bullying and harassment, growing occupational violence and when people are afraid to speak out for fear of their jobs, yet managers fail to act, it is time to look for a better way.
Workforce challenges would be fixed if Queensland Health had better, capable managers, people who are focused on patients and employee satisfaction, not their next pay increase.
It is likely that wait-lists will grow over Christmas/New Year as hospitals close wards and services in preparation for a COVID wave. We are living with COVID now, it is time for the health system to live with it too and to focus on patients in need.
How terrible it must be to be crippled and waiting years for a hip replacement.
The toxic culture in Caboolture Hospital, Maternity Ward closures in regional areas and death in care and unchecked violence against staff in Townsville University Hospital point to the failures of management.
The government has appointed so many of their own people and union hacks to senior health jobs, with or without qualifications, that the health system is teetering on the brink, and the people who will suffer are the patients and the staff.
We have good nurses, doctors and health professionals who would spread the word to attract more nurses and doctors to Queensland if they could. But today, these health workers are unhappy and would not give Queensland Health a good job reference.
Lifting spending and more beds are not the only answer. When the bedrock of the system, the nurses, the doctors, the allied health professionals, the wardies and support workers are abused and overworked new doctors and nurses are unlikely to apply for jobs. It is no good having 1,500 new beds and no new nurses.
NPAQ does have the solution, a nurse led solution. Putting professional management into the health system with a focus on building capability, cutting wait-lists and creating a better, safer workplace.