Queensland Public Hospital Performance Report 2005-06

Queensland public hospitals continue to perform well despite the demands of a growing and ageing population, acting Health Minister Desley Boyle said today.

Ms Boyle tabled in State Parliament today the Queensland Public Hospitals Performance Report 2005-06 which analyses how hospitals performed against a range of 31 clinical indicators.

“Forty two public hospitals with 2,000 or more inpatients per year are grouped with other hospitals of similar size and range of services to compare performance,” she said.

“Publishing this report honours the Beattie Government’s commitment to keeping Queenslanders fully informed about the performance of their health system.

“And, it provides hospitals with valuable information to identify areas where they’re doing well and where they need to do better.”

Ms Boyle said the report shows Queensland public hospitals - including emergency departments - are busier than ever before and treating more patients than ever before.

“Demand for hospital services continues to grow by an average 2.3 % a year and the number of admitted patients treated per year has grown from 694,264 in 2001-02 to 781,652 last year.

“The number of acute hospital beds and critical care beds continues to grow to meet increasing patient demand.

“And the report shows we have more doctors, nurses and allied health professionals than ever before working in our hospitals to provide surgery and care to patients.”

In overall terms, Queensland public hospitals performed well across the range of 31 surgical, medical, gynaecological/obstetric and mental health categories.

“That tallies with the latest national data showing Queensland’s public hospitals are performing as good as, if not better, than comparable hospitals throughout the rest of Australia,” she said.

“However, the report also highlights areas where individual hospitals need to do better in a particular category.

“In every case where a hospital recorded an unfavourable result, a management action plan was immediately put in place to improve performance in that category.

“Peer grouping allows for more valid comparison of clinical indicators to show hospitals whether they are performing better or worse compared to other hospitals in their group.

“But some indicators don’t apply to some hospitals because they don’t perform that particular clinical procedure.

“For example, a hospital may not perform hip replacements or cardiac procedures so can’t be rated against other hospitals in those categories.”

Ms Boyle described Queensland’s first annual hospital performance report as a landmark document.

“We will continue to publish it annually in the interests of openness and transparency.

“And, I know Health Minister Stephen Robertson will be encouraging the private hospital sector to publish similar reports on their performance,” she said.

Copies of the Queensland Public Hospitals Performance Report 2005-06 are available on the Queensland Health website at: http://www.health.qld.gov.au

Media: Paul Lynch 3234 1190