THE Palaszczuk Labor Government is attempting to hide the truth about the Queensland Health Crisis, withholding critical data about ambulance ramping and Emergency Department wait-times.
The LNP is demanding Health Minister Shannon Fentiman stop blocking the release of vital health data and release an over-due quarterly update today.
30 days after the data was due to be publicly released it is still nowhere to be seen. Instead, the Health Minister has cherry-picked selected numbers in an attempt to take the pressure off releasing the full data.
Queenslanders are being kept in the dark on the flatlining Queensland health system, with the latest publicly available health data now four months out-of-date.
Quarterly data has shown a huge deterioration under the Palaszczuk Labor Government, including ambulance ramping, Emergency Department performance, elective surgery waitlists and specialist waitlist.
Minister Fentiman has failed to explain the shocking deterioration of the health system, take responsibility for it, or explain when ambulance ramping will return to the 15% it was when the Government came to office.
Shadow Minister for Health and Registered Nurse Ros Bates said there was no plausible excuse for the Minister blocking the release of the data and reiterated her call for it to be released today.
“This Labor Government must be open and transparent with Queenslanders about what is going on with our health system, instead of blocking the release of data,” Ms Bates said.
“Queenslanders deserve the truth about our health system, they deserve to know they can rely on an ambulance in their time of need and they’ll receive the care they need at hospital.
“Shannon Fentiman’s attempts to block the truth from Queenslanders by refusing to release health data is another sign this Labor Government has given up on integrity.
“They would rather hide the truth to save their image than release data exposing the true state of the health system. Transparency is the only way we will heal the Queensland Health Crisis.
“Ambulance ramping is now three times higher than it was when Labor came to government and is the worst in the nation.
“Close to one-third of patients aren’t being seen on-time when they arrive at Emergency Departments.”
“This is not the fault of our hardworking health professionals, this is the result of a Government in chaos and crisis, failing to resource and run our health system.
“A reliable health system is a priority for Queenslanders, which is why it is our priority.
“The LNP has put solutions on the table, to heal the Queensland Health Crisis including better resources, better triaging, sharing data in real-time and putting doctors and nurses back in charge to improve patient care.”