Community & Business
27 June, 2023
Staffing concerns for new hospital
STAFFING for the new Atherton Hospital have been raised in Parliament by Member for Hill Shane Knuth after concerns were expressed through his offi ce about whether funding had been allocated for the 17 new positions.
STAFFING for the new Atherton Hospital have been raised in Parliament by Member for Hill Shane Knuth after concerns were expressed through his offi ce about whether funding had been allocated for the 17 new positions.
In the meantime, the community is asking when the hospital will open after Queensland Health deferred the opening scheduled for late May after elevated levels of lead were detected in the water of the new Clinical Services building.
Cairns and Hinterland Hospital and Health Service acting executive director rural and remote services, Linda Bailey, could not provide an opening date when asked last week, committing only to the hospital being opened “in the next two months”.
“We are continuing water quality testing at the Clinical Services Building,” she said.
“Once we are confident that the water quality issues have been resolved we will move staff and patients into the new building.
“Testing has shown the water in the rest of the hospital is safe to drink and there is no longer a requirement for bottled water.”
Mr Knuth said while he was looking forward to the opening of the hospital, which had been product of many years of lobbying, he pointed out there had been some “hiccups” along the way.
“The project has had a few hiccups along the way with concerns regarding the lack of staffi ng and lead in the water of the new building,” he said.
Mr Knuth put a Question on Notice to the then Health Minister Yvonne D’ath in May in a bid to confirm that extra staffing had been recruited to fully operate all services at the current and new sections of the hospital.
“I raised the community’s concerns with the Cairns Hinterland Hospital and Health Service CO and Board recently and was reassured that new positions at Atherton Hospital were currently being filled,” he said.
In the Minister’s response, she said the level of clinical workforce at Atherton Hospital was appropriate to meet demand and community expectations when providing safe treatment and care.
“Planning for the appropriate staffing levels needed to accommodate the services at the Atherton Hospital has been an integral part of the Redevelopment Project as it prepares to transition to operations,” she said.
“The Cairns and Hinterland HHS has approved the Atherton Hospital increased staffing requirements. It is an increase comprising of 17.66 full time equivalent positions across administration, operations, nursing, and pharmacy staff.
“This increase will support the safe staffing post redevelopment, with a recurrent budget of $2,335,726.”
The Minister said all additional positions were in the process of being recruited, with preferred candidates identified and expected to commence work prior to the opening of the hospital.
But she admitted recruiting staff was difficult.
“All Australian jurisdictions are facing workforce challenges,” she said.
“The government recently announced the Workforce Attraction Incentive Transfer Scheme to incentivise interstate and international healthcare workers to move to Queensland, including up to $70,000 for medical practitioners who move to rural or remote locations.
“Further, in addition to the recently announced Queensland Health Workforce Strategy, the Cairns and Hinterland HHS is responding to workforce challenges by maintaining services to rural areas through a variety of interim solutions.
“This includes locum and agency engagement, telehealth support and staff rotations from other facilities in the Cairns and Hinterland region.”
