Political knives drawn in parliament as hunt for scalps in health intensifies
Ill-feeling has swept the Queensland Parliament as calls ring out from both sides of the chamber for Health Minister Yvette DāAth and her Opposition Shadow Ros Bates to lose their positions.
The LNP Opposition is confident it has the ministerial career of Yvette DāAth on the chopping block, using a damning report out of Brisbaneās PA Hospital to further skewer the embattled minister.
According to a leaked email seen by InQueensland, the stateās biggest hospital has been forced to scale back surgeries to saveĀ itsĀ anaesthetic training accreditation.
The email to senior staff indicates 1300 people are stuck on surgery waiting lists longer than āclinically recommendedā.
The PA has attracted concerns from the Australian and New Zealand College of Anaesthetists due to inadequate supervision, excessive roster changes, insufficient clinical support time and staffing numbers outside agreed guidelines.
Opposition Leader David Crisafulli said DāAthās performance in Question Time on Thursday suggested she was not aware of the developments at the PA Hospital.
āThe Minister didnāt know that senior doctors at the hospital were apologising to colleagues and patients as a result of this failure,ā Crisafulli said.
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āThis is yet another major setback for the public health system in the middle of the Queensland health crisis.ā
The latest revelations come after failures with DNA testing at Queenslandās biggest crime lab and a string of adverse medical outcomes at Mackay Hospital.
Shadow Health Minister Ros Bates during Question Time, suggested some of the bad outcomes were the result of poor recruitment, describing some of the clinicians allegedly at fault as ādudsā.
Regional Development Minister Glenn Butcher seized on the comments, labelling them as a slur against all of Queenslandās medical workforce.
āQueenslandās doctors and nurses employed by our hospital and health services do tremendous work,ā Butcher said in a statement released to media.
āFor the LNP to label our frontline workers as duds is insulting to the staff ā the doctors and nurses ā who work day-in, day-out in our hospitals.ā
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An LNP spokesman said Batesā comments were ādeliberately misconstruedā by the government and that āno-one was buying their interpretationā.
Butcher called Batesā comments āinsulting and insensitive remarksā and demanded she apologise.
āIf she doesnāt apologise, the Leader of the Opposition should sack her from his front bench,ā he said.
āAnything else is endorsing her comments about Queenslandās hardworking health staff.ā
Despite the call for her own scalp, Bates is adamant that DāAth remains over her head, using the latest case at PA Hospital to cast doubts on her competency.
āThis is another sad and sorry chapter of the Queensland health crisis,ā she said.
āYvette DāAth is losing the support of her colleagues and Queenslanders no longer trust her to fix the Queensland health crisis.
āShe must go.ā
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