Health

Health services when you need them with the Easier Access to Health Services Plan

The LNP has the Right Plan to restore health services when you need them.

The Easier Access to Health Services Plan has been developed after 39 Health Crisis Town Halls where hundreds of Queenslanders shared their stories about our health and hospital system. We have listened to doctors, nurses and paramedics who revealed they’re overworked, under resourced and aren’t empowered to make the best decisions for their patients.

We have listened to Queenslanders who have lost their loved ones because ambulances didn’t arrive in time, or were ramped outside the hospital metres from help. We have listened to Queenslanders who have given birth on the side of the road because regional maternity services were shut. We have listened to Queenslanders who have been left waiting for life-changing surgeries, and others who have been left permanently impaired by these delays.

Queenslanders should have access to world-class healthcare, no matter where they live.

Queensland needs a fresh start. Our plan will restore health services when you need them.

Our policies will heal Labor’s Health Crisis by diagnosing the issues from within our health system, treating the causes and delivering long-term solutions to cure. That’s our commitment to Queenslanders.

Real-time data

To identify where the pressure-points are and target funding to fix them:

• We will unlock transparent real-time hospital data within 100 days.
• We will provide Queenslanders with the truth about what’s happening in our hospitals, as it happens, not when it’s politically convenient.
• We will deliver accountability for wait times, the number of patients waiting at Emergency Departments and how many hospital beds are available.
• We will use real-time data to drive resources and frontline staff to where they are needed.

Better triaging

To have patients seen faster:

• We will ensure urgent patients are seen faster, by improving resources for Emergency Department triaging and including clinical specialists from other areas of the hospital in the triaging process.
• We will save you from being kept waiting to leave hospital and allow you to be discharged when you’re ready, by boosting doctors on the frontline.
• We will free up capacity in our Emergency Departments sooner by delivering new, contemporary models of care that streamline hospital admissions.

Ambulances back on the road

Available when you need them:

• We will reduce ambulance ramping, so ambulances are available when Queenslanders need them, by getting more people into Emergency Departments faster and getting ambulances back on the road sooner.
• We will get patients the help they need in our hospitals and in our ambulances by delivering more doctors, nurses and paramedics.

More surgeries, faster

To have patients helped quicker:

• We will reduce waitlists by using real-time data to optimise surgery schedules.
• We will fast-track access to elective surgeries by delivering better access to more doctors and nurses.

More doctors and nurses

To deliver the health services when and where Queensland needs:

• We will put more doctors, nurses and paramedics on the frontline.
• We will reduce the burn-out of our doctors, nurses and paramedics by delivering a home grown health workforce strategy to train and hire the clinicians needed for the next decade.
• We will help end staff shortages by creating a pipeline of doctors, nurses and paramedics to work in our regional hospitals with our own home grown training facilities.

Better services

So Queenslanders have world-class healthcare no matter where they live:

• We will ensure Queenslanders can have babies in more communities by reopening regional maternity wards.
• We will ensure Queenslanders can be diagnosed earlier and start treatment faster by boosting diagnostic screening across the State.
• We will tackle the emerging mental health crisis by delivering more dedicated facilities.
• We will deliver planned hospital upgrades earlier and end the cost blowouts.

Clinicians back in charge

To implement local health solutions for their local community:

• We will deliver the care you need locally by boosting access to health services in regional Queensland.
• We will better serve the needs of regional areas by empowering local clinical teams to implement solutions, because they know their community best.
• We will encourage active frontline staff to take on leadership positions at the helm of their local hospital and health services.
• We will ensure hospital executives understand what’s happening in frontline health services and what’s needed for the future, by maintaining a visible, active and accessible presence on the frontline.