Mackay Hospital and Health Service has ended another year of delivering a record amount of public healthcare to the community.
Hospital and Health Board Chair Darryl Camilleri said staff had worked hard to meet the rising demand for emergency and planned care.
“Our staff went above and beyond to meet this need, caring for more people than ever before in our hospitals, emergency and specialist outpatient departments, dental clinics and community-based services,” Mr Camilleri said.
“This is impressive particularly when you consider the additional work required for COVID-19 testing, contact tracing and vaccination,” he said.
In our specialist outpatient departments we were able to offer more people their first appointment within the clinically recommended time.
Emergency doctors and nurses have also worked hard to manage growth in emergency department presentations.
“We have come close to seeing 100,000 people in a year across our eight emergency departments,” Mr Camilleri said.
“Impressively, despite the increase in presentations, we treated 100% of our most serious Category 1 presentations within two minutes,” he said.
The health service recorded an operating surplus of $3.3 million for the 2020-2021 financial year, substantially supported by a revaluation of land assets.
Mr Camilleri said clinical services expanded to help meet the growing demand, including:
- Improvement works for mental health services with the opening of a new Crisis Support Space at Mackay Base Hospital
- Commencement of the new Budyubari Bidyiri Kebi Stapal program (meaning Big Dream, Small Steps) with the recruitment of 20 First Nations teenagers
- Expansion of the Hospital-in-the-Home model of care to include 23 virtual beds with remote patient monitoring to allow people to recover at home and reduce bed pressure at Mackay Base Hospital
- Commencement of a new life-saving procedure to open blocked calcified arteries at Mackay Base Hospital so patients can be seen closer to home
- Construction of a $7 million Medical Imaging and Renal Unit building at Bowen Hospital
Mr Camilleri said the Board was proud of the professional and compassionate care that hospital and healthcare workers delivered.
“Their commitment to our communities and to each other as has been admirable and once again their resilience has come to the fore to see us through a difficult time as we responded to COVID-19,” he said.
Looking ahead the health service has started planning to open a clinical decision unit at Mackay Base Hospital to care for emergency patients who need a longer stay while having tests or reviews to decide whether they need admission to a ward.
Mr Camilleri said the health service was also excited to develop and implement its first Health Equity Strategy in partnership with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and local Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community-controlled health organisations.
“We also eagerly anticipate construction of the new $31.5 million Sarina Hospital which will be considerably larger than the existing facility with 19 beds and more ensuite bathrooms, along with two renal consultation rooms and new staff accommodation,” he said.
