Healthcare services in Redlands are under growing pressure, with new data revealing a sharp rise in waiting lists, longer treatment delays and concerns over how hospital performance is being measured, Labor claims.
The ALP claims new figures show there are now an additional 2,000 patients on the waitlist to see a specialist compared to before the LNP came to power — effectively a “waitlist to join a waitlist”, where patients must first see a specialist before progressing to surgery or further treatment.
More than half of those patients are not being seen within clinically recommended timeframes, raising concerns among doctors that delays could lead to worsening conditions and the need for more complex interventions.
At the same time, the elective surgery waitlist has grown, with fewer procedures being carried out, according to the latest health performance data.
Emergency department performance has also declined, with an increasing proportion of patients not being seen within recommended timeframes at Redland Hospital.
The data has also highlighted a discrepancy between ambulance ramping figures and so-called “lost minutes” — the average time patients wait beyond 30 minutes to be transferred from an ambulance to the emergency department.
While ramping figures have shown a slight improvement, “lost minutes” have increased significantly — a trend critics say raises serious questions about whether patients are being prioritised based on performance targets rather than clinical need.
The figures align with claims from whistleblowers suggesting some patients may be prioritised if they can be offloaded within 30 minutes, potentially improving ramping statistics while leaving others waiting longer.
In some cases, patients are reportedly waiting close to an hour for treatment.
Opposition Leader Steven Miles said the data painted a concerning picture for the region.
“The people of Redlands deserve so much better than this,” he said.
“David Crisafulli and his LNP Government have utterly failed to live up to their promise to improve Redlands’ health services.
“David Crisafulli has already been caught out twice fudging crime statistics, and now we are seeing signs that he is doing the same with ambulance ramping data.
“David Crisafulli continues to pedal fake stats and dodgy data, while Queenslanders are going backwards.”
Springwood MP Mick de Brenni said the figures showed the community had been let down.
“The people of Redlands have been let down badly by David Crisafulli and his LNP Government,” he said.
“David Crisafulli talked such a big game prior to the election, promised so much when it came to health services in the Redlands region, but instead under David Crisafulli health service delivery has gone backwards.
“It didn’t have to be like this, but it is because David Crisafulli broke a promise.
“David Crisafulli hasn’t followed through on his commitment to the people of Redlands to deliver better health services.
“It is David Crisafulli’s failure and his disgrace.”
The latest figures have intensified scrutiny on the state government’s handling of health services in the Redlands, particularly as demand continues to grow alongside population increases in the region.
However, the government has previously rejected the opposition’s claims.
A spokeswoman for Health and Ambulance Services Minister Tim Nicholls said the previous government was responsible for the pressures facing the hospital and that the current government was working to stabilise the system.
“During their decade of decline, Mark Bailey and Labor left Redland Hospital on life support, with record ambulance ramping and a spiralling elective surgery waitlist,” she said.
“The Crisafulli Government is delivering on its election commitments to reduce ambulance ramping and stabilise the elective surgery waitlist, but we know much more needs to be done to heal Labor’s Health Crisis.
“Under Labor, ambulance ramping at Redland Hospital hit a record 72.7 per cent in July 2022, while the elective surgery waitlist grew to 1,229 in February 2024.”
