Henry Pike (Bowman, Liberal National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I wish to alert the House to the state of Redland Hospital, the only public hospital within the boundaries of my electorate. It is the major health centre for the Redlands, operating 172 overnight beds and treatment spaces. The medical staff, nursing staff, volunteers and all the support staff do an incredible job, but the staff have been let down by chronic underinvestment by the Queensland government. Redland Hospital is ground zero in Queensland's ongoing health crisis. The ambulance ramping statistics for June showed that across Queensland 45 per cent of patients who arrived by ambulance were not able to be seen within the recommended 30 minutes. But in Redland Hospital this figure was at a remarkable 68 per cent. That's more than two-thirds of my constituents who arrived at the Redland Hospital by ambulance having to wait beyond the recommended time. It's just not good enough.

Despite the best efforts of staff, Redland Hospital is failing to deliver the level of service necessary for an electorate of my size. Consider the Redland Hospital in comparison to some other Queensland hospitals serving communities of similar size and demographics to my electorate. Toowoomba Hospital has 465 beds for 125,000 locals. Hervey Bay Hospital has 210 beds for 53,000 locals. Redland Hospital as 172 beds for 160,000 locals.

The Queensland government has been warned for years about the sorry state of Redland Hospital. Back in 2019, emergency physician Dr Michael Cameron took the extraordinary step of writing an open letter to the people of my community, saying, 'As your doctor, I've a duty to warn you that the choice you make may make a difference.' Dr Cameron urged locals to reconsider going to Redland Hospital in the event of an emergency. How extraordinary! We have hospital staff encouraging people not to go to their local public hospital.

Dr Cameron said that the only saving grace for Redland Hospital was that it had free parking. Well, it won't for long. A new car park is currently being built at the Redland Hospital with the support of a $16 million contribution from the former federal Liberal-Nationals government. While I welcome the joint investment in the new car park, I note that the state Labor government only committed to construct the car park after a public petition led by the coalition. This commitment came 443 days after the federal coalition government committed funds to the project. To make matters worse, the state Labor government intends to impose fees not just on the new car park but across all the areas of parking at Redland Hospital where it is currently free to park. The former Liberal-Nationals government did not help fund this new car park just to create a new revenue stream for the state government. Together with the state member for Oodgeroo, Dr Mark Robinson, I have led a campaign to get the state government to reconsider the imposition of parking fees at Redland Hospital or to at least hypothecate the revenue from these fees to upgrade the hospital. But, so far, this community call has fallen on deaf ears.

The former Liberal and Nationals government committed $30 million to the stage 1 upgrade program of the hospital, which, together with a $32 million state commitment, will see a modest increase in bed capacity and a small intensive care unit. But this project has now appeared in multiple state budgets and appears to be on the never-never. Blaming the former federal government has been an easy out for the Queensland Labor government, but in 2019-20 they received $776 million from the Commonwealth government for the local health network, a 92 per cent increase from the figure in 2013.

The time for excuses is over. My community is sick of it. We want to see action. While I am in this place, I intend to keep fighting for funding to give the Redlands the hospital that it deserves and a proper upgrade like we've seen at other hospitals across South-East Queensland and to get the capital investment that we need from both levels of government to make that a reality. I will keep the House informed of progress. I trust that the Speaker will inform anyone within his network who might have control over expenditure in the Queensland government.