Babies, babies and more babies at Ipswich Hospital

Queensland Health’s latest quarterly performance report shows Ipswich Hospital continues to break annual records.

Health Minister Stephen Robertson said the increased activity demonstrated the impact of the additional $10 billion Health Action Plan funding which is expanding the capacity of our public hospitals throughout Queensland.

Mr Robertson said 612 babies were born at Ipswich Hospital in the quarter, a 6.1 per cent increase from the same period in the previous year, when 577 babies arrived.

“Our birthing figures continue to rise as Ipswich and surrounding communities continue to experience a growth in population,” Mr Robertson said.

“The hospital’s midwifery group practice, known as the Birth and Beyond Program, passed a landmark in December with the 100th baby born in program.”

Mr Robertson said the program would be extended into the Goodna region to allow mothers in the catchment area of Gailes, Camira, Redbank Plains, Dinmore and the hospital side of the river to participate.

“The program offers women-centred care, support for the mothers, their baby and partner or their support people throughout pregnancy, birth and in the following six to eight weeks,” she explained.

“A midwife and child health nurse will get to know the mother one-on-one and provide care”.

Mr Robertson said the service provided all standard antenatal care, information and resources to assist mothers to make evidence-based choices and the opportunity to meet other pregnant women.

“What has been a great outcome from this program so far are the improvements in the breastfeeding rates of participants and the decrease of incidents of birthing interventions such as caesarean sections,” he said.

“There’s also been a decrease in the number of mothers using pain relief during birthing.”

The December 2008 report shows 8,109 inpatients were admitted to Ipswich Hospital, with 1,490 patients receiving their elective surgery operations.

“The December quarter 2008 was also busy in the hospital’s Emergency Department, with 11,821 admissions,” he said.

With the expected growth in the region, Ipswich Hospital will be redeveloped in the next few years to add an extra 84 beds, costing approximately $122 million.

In the three months to December 31, 2008, compared to the same quarter in 2007, Queensland hospitals provided:

• A 3.2 per cent increase (or 11,744 more patients) in the number of people treated in emergency departments

• A 5.9 per cent increase (or 12,284 more patients) in the number of people admitted to hospital

• An 8.4 per cent increase (or 8,520 more patients) in the number of people admitted for same day care in a hospital

• A 3.6 per cent increase (or 3,764 more patients) in the number of people admitted for more than one day

• A 0.4 per cent increase (or 3,074 more appointments) in the number of outpatient services provided

• A 6.8 per cent increase (or 1,950 more patients) in the number of people receiving elective surgery, and

• A 4.8 per cent increase (or 482 more babies) in the number of babies born

Mr Robertson said staffing continued to grow strongly. Since 2005 Queensland Health has employed:

• 1,715 more doctors, a 38 per cent increase to 6,267
• 5,778 more nurses, a 26 per cent to 27,689, and
• 2,134 more health practitioners, professional and technical staff, up 31 per cent to 9,068.

Mr Robertson said the quarterly performance report reflected the hard work and commitment of the dedicated Queensland Health staff across the state, and he commended their efforts in providing quality health care to people in their communities.

The Queensland Public Hospitals Performance Report December Quarter 2008 is available on Queensland Health’s website at www.health.qld.gov.au under the “What’s New” section.

Definitions:

Outpatient services provided = the number of outpatient and other non-admitted services minus services such as emergency, pharmacy, pathology, diagnostic imaging, community health services, district nursing services and other outreach services.

People treated as inpatients or emergencies = the number of admitted patient episodes plus the number of emergency services not resulting in admission. For example, some people will attend the Emergency Department and then be admitted to hospital. These people will only be counted once as inpatients and not counted as emergency patients for this particular figure.

People admitted to hospital = the number of admitted patient episodes of care. For example, one person might be admitted to hospital on two separate occasions, they would then be counted as two episodes of care.

People treated in emergency departments = the number of accident and emergency services provided. For example, a patient attends emergency three times, then it is counted as three separate attendances to the emergency department.

People received elective surgery = the number of people admitted for elective surgery from the elective surgery waiting list in either Category 1, 2 or 3.

Category 1 – Urgent

Admission within 30 days desirable for a condition that has the potential to deteriorate quickly to the point that it may become an emergency.

Category 2 – Semi-urgent

Admission within 90 days desirable for a condition causing some pain, dysfunction or disability, but which is not likely to deteriorate quickly or become an emergency.

Category 3 – Non-urgent

Admission at some time in the future acceptable for a condition causing minimal or no pain, dysfunction or disability, which is unlikely to deteriorate quickly and which does not have the potential to become an emergency.

Long-wait

Term applied to any waiting time that exceeds the recommendation for that category.

ENDS

MEDIA: Kate Van Poelgeest 3234 1185 or 0458 449 267