IT’S not about the State Government’s record health budget, it’s about their record delivering health services to the Far North.
The Cairns Hospital expansion won’t be completed until the first half of 2026.
The health crisis is in the here and now.
Patients are waiting for ambulances now.
Ambulance ramping in Cairns has soared to 30%.
A Far North patient had to wait more than seven hours for an ambulance in March.
And more than 821 hours of lost ambulance time has already been recorded in Cairns from January to March.
The State Government has destroyed the health system over the past seven years, and now they want another seven years to fix it.
This has been a dire situation in the Far North for more than half a decade.
The LNP has solutions on the table, that the government can implement now.
These include Improving triaging, making hospital data available in real time and putting Far North doctors and nurses back in charge, instead of decisions being made from Brisbane.
Properly resourcing more beds is only one piece of the puzzle.
As a nurse and former hospital administrator, I know how stressful it is on the frontline.
Our doctors, nurses, paramedics and allied health professionals are exhausted.
They deserve more respect from the State Government.
Far North Queenslanders deserve a world class health system.