QNU Press Releases - February 2004
3 February 2004
QNU State Election analysis
Universal and improved ambulance cover vital to good health services
- Strong backing for new emergency departments at Prince Charles and Robina
- Statewide health hotline certainly worth a try
- Mater up-grade a logical extension of the capital works program
- Only Labor has a formal nursing policy
Introduction
With the election campaign drawing to a close and nearly all the health policies of the Government and Opposition now available the Queensland Nurses Union (QNU), which is Queensland’s largest health professionals organisation and represents more than 30,000 nurses, has released the following assessment of those policies.
Both the ALP and National-Liberal Coalition have announced a large number of detailed initiatives, many of which address specific problems at individual health care facilities or within the various clinical sectors. Most these are welcome initiatives and, as far as they go, are designed to achieve improvements in health care delivery. The QNU has no reason to believe these initiatives will not achieve their objective, if sufficient staff can be found to implement them.
However, the QNU believes a number of major initiatives have been announced by the Government, which clearly tip the balance in its favour when it comes to an assessment of what is on offer from both sides.
That does not mean the QNU believes the State Government is doing an excellent job in the provision of health care services. In fact, recent campaigns by QNU members are evidence that there are significant areas of disagreement between this union and the State Government. For example, we do not believe the State Government is taking the nurse shortage seriously and its failure to admit this problem could significantly impact on its capacity to deliver many of the promises made during this election campaign.
There are also considerable local problems in some facilities (e.g. Cairns), which will require addressing – whoever is in power. The QNU will continue to campaign to have these problems addressed.
Public hospital emergency departments
The Labor Party’s plan to build a full-scale emergency department at the Prince Charles Hospital at Chermside is one of the most significant announcements to emerge during this election campaign and should provide much improved emergency services for people living on Brisbane’s northside.
Feedback received by QNU officials in recent days indicates nurses at both the Prince Charles and Royal Brisbane hospitals are pleased with the announcement.
There is no doubt the emergency department at the Royal Brisbane Hospital has become busier in recent years and a new full-scale emergency department at Chermside should relieve some of that pressure. It also means thousands of northside residents, and ambulances servicing the outer northern suburbs, will not have as far to travel to get treatment in an emergency. And time is a big factor in an emergency.
The Prince Charles campus is also the logical choice for the new emergency department because there is already considerable healthcare infrastructure on the site. It is centrally placed on the north side and surrounded by major roads.
The decision by both the ALP and Coalition to build an emergency department at Robina Hospital should also be a boost for Gold Coast residents and take a lot of pressure off the Gold Coast Hospital, where patient activity levels have increased substantially in recent years.
The decision by both the ALP and Coalition to increase resources at existing emergency departments is also welcome. However, it is too early to say whether this will work and the results of any initiatives aimed at reducing overcrowding and access block will need to be constantly monitored to ensure they are achieving their objective.
The ambulance service
The QNU strongly supports the State Government’s policy of compulsory, universal ambulance cover and its proposals to significantly increase ambulance services in the next few years.
Nurses know how important good ambulance services are to an effective health system. Timely, high-quality paramedical services can often mean the difference between moderate illness and serious illness or even between life and death. That is, quick intervention by paramedics can greatly assist the work of hospital staff and lead to better outcomes for patients.
As for the controversy over the compulsory ambulance levy, the QNU supports the idea of compulsory, universal ambulance coverage. As previously stated the ambulance service is an integral part of the health system and the way it operates has implications for the State’s hospital system.
Therefore it is inappropriate for the ambulance service’s funding to be based on voluntary contributions and raffles outside shopping centres. It is also inappropriate that, in an emergency, the issue of a person’s ambulance coverage should even be a consideration.
Statewide health hotline
The QNU believes the Labor Party’s proposal to establish a 24-hour, seven-day-a-week statewide health hotline is certainly worth a try.
Advice received by QNU officials indicates these hotlines have been successful in other areas and that they can help relieve pressure on hospital staff.
However, strict protocols will need to be established to ensure callers, who really should present at a hospital or doctor’s surgery, are not discouraged from doing so or given the wrong advice. That means this hotline will need to be monitored very carefully.
Mater up-grade
The Mater complex at South Brisbane is a major Queensland health care facility, servicing people from all over the State, and it has played a significant part in the delivery of public health care services for many years.
The QNU believes the ALP’s plan to redevelop the Mater Mother’s Hospital and refurbish the Mater Adult’s public hospital at South Brisbane is a logical extension of the hospital capital works program that has rebuilt or refurbished many Queensland hospitals over the last decade.
Nursing policy
Only the ALP has developed a formal, specific nursing policy for Queensland. The Coalition has failed to come up with such a policy and that is a significant weakness in its overall approach to health policy.
The ALP’s decision, in its nursing policy, to strengthen the role of the State’s Chief Nursing Advisor is welcome and will hopefully improve the voice of nursing within the Health Department and other sections of the State Government.
The ALP’s decision to start permanently employing Nurse Practitioners is also welcome and will bring Queensland into line with other Australian States and most other countries in the developed world.
However, the QNU is extremely disappointed that Queensland Health has still not released its policy on payment of the new qualifications allowance, which was awarded to public sector nurses by the Australian Industrial Relations Commission last May and due to be paid from 1 July 2003. | 
