Queensland Health

Last updated

Queensland Health
Agency overview
Formed1859;165 years ago (1859) [1]
Jurisdiction Queensland Government
Headquarters 33 Charlotte Street, Brisbane
EmployeesIncrease2.svg 97,207 (2020–21) [2]
Annual budgetIncrease2.svgA$22.24 billion (2021–22) [3]
Minister responsible
Deputy Minister responsible
Agency executive
  • Michael Walsh, Director-General [5]
Child agencies
Website health.qld.gov.au

Queensland Health is the name of the overall public health service in the state of Queensland, Australia. The system is made up of 16 Hospital and Health Services (HHS'), and the Queensland Department of Health. Each HHS covers a certain geographical area of Queensland, with the exception of the state-wide service, Children's Health Queensland, and operates health facilities and other services. The Department of Health is responsible for the management and performance of the system, and support services like finance, centralised supply and procurement, HR, and IT services. [1] Most HHS' also have associated foundations and authorities, which provide additional support. [6]

Contents

Like all other states and territories in Australia, the Queensland Government provides free or low-cost health services to people with a Medicare card or are from reciprocal country, or at-cost services to ineligible patients. In addition, some people from northern New South Wales and the Northern Territory receive care through Queensland Health due to a lack of services in their local areas. Queensland became the first state in Australia to introduce free universal public hospital treatment in January 1946, a policy later adopted by other jurisdictions. [7]

Queensland Health employs over 97,000 staff and has an annual operating budget of over AU$30 billion. [2] At the end of June 2014, there were 11,109 inpatient beds available across all state hospitals, with 305 designed intensive care beds. [8] [9]

Hospital and Health Services

The Health and Hospital Services are independent statutory bodies which are responsible for delivering public health services in their areas. Each HHS is governed by a Hospital and Health Board and managed by a Health Service Chief Executive. [10] There are 15 regional HHS', and one state-wide HHS (Children's Health Queensland). The HHS' are: [11]

Children's Health Queensland (CHQ) operates the state-wide children's hospital in South Brisbane, as well as provides specialist advice to health practitioner in Queensland via telehealth, and runs programs throughout the state such as the Good Start Program and school-based nursing services. [12] Children from anywhere across Queensland can be referred to CHQ, and can receive specialist care at Queensland Children's Hospital.

As not all HHS' are able to provide advanced care services, largely due to the size and remoteness of its catchments, some HHS (primarily Metro North and Metro South) accept referrals from outside their catchment where the service cannot be provided locally. To assist with this, Queensland has a Patient Travel Subsidy Scheme which covers reasonable costs of transport and accommodation to another public facility if it cannot be provided locally. [13]

History

2005 restructure

Queensland Health was restructured toward the end of 2005 from 38 health districts to 20. There were a number consolidations particularly in the urban areas with the formation of the "Northside" and "Southside" Districts. Northside District included three major hospital facilities including The Prince Charles Hospital, Redcliffe and Caboolture Hospitals while Southside brought the Logan, Redlands, Beaudesert and Queen Elizabeth II Jubilee Hospitals together. Due to their size and areas they covered, the Royal Brisbane and Women's Hospital (RBWH) on the Northside, and the Princess Alexandra Hospital on the Southside remained independent districts in their own right.

Toowoomba Hospital, 2008 ToowoombaHospital2008.jpg
Toowoomba Hospital, 2008

In September 2008, the 20 health service districts were further reduced to 15. Six new districts were created, merging together other districts:

2006 Health Quality and Complaints Commission

In response to the Forster Review of Queensland Health Systems an independent Health Quality and Complaints Commission was established on 1 July 2006 to allow patients to lodge complaints about health matters. [14]

The (full-time) Commissioner is Professor Michael Ward, a former Professor of Medicine at the University of Queensland. There are also a number of part-time Assistant Commissioners.

The Health Quality and Complaints Commission also has a role in the development and implementation of quality, safety and clinical practice standards throughout Queensland's public and private services and monitor best practice clinical governance and patient safety.

It was subject to review by an all-party Parliamentary Committee after its first full year of operation.

The HQCC has since been replaced by the Office of the Health Ombudsman.

2011 proposed decentralisation

Former Premier Anna Bligh announced on 12 December 2011 that the department would be dismantled. The decision was attributed to an "unacceptable culture", the theft of $16 million from the department and problems with the payroll system which has cost hundreds of millions of dollars. [15] The department was due to cease operations on 1 July 2012. [15]

In January 2012, more details of the reform plan were announced, with an emphasis on health care management to be done locally. [16] Bligh described the changes as the biggest decentralisation of the public sector in the state's history. [17] In March 2012, the ALP lost power in Queensland and the proposed abolition of Queensland Health did not eventuate.

2012 restructure

The 2011 National Health Reform Agreement was signed by all states and territories, and required the creation of local health boards and hospital networks that would be directly funded by the Commonwealth. [18] [19] In May 2012, the agreement was formalised in Queensland through legislation proposed by Lawrence Springborg, which transitioned the health districts to independent Hospital and Health Service entities. [20] Under the new arrangements, each HHS would have their own board to manage and oversee health operations in that region. [21] The boards are accountable to the minister for health, and the Department of Health was established as a 'system manager' to provide oversight and support to each of the services. [22] These changes became effective on 1 July 2012.

Controversy

Jayant Patel scandal

Queensland Health and the Bundaberg Base Hospital were involved in a scandal surrounding the employment of surgeon Jayant Patel. The Queensland Medical Board approved his registration and he was then quickly promoted to Director of Surgery even though he lacked specific qualifications. [23] In March 2005, Rob Messenger raised concerns with Patel's medical practices in the Queensland Parliament after he was contacted by senior hospital nurse Toni Hoffman. [24] Hoffman received the Order of Australia medal and 2006 Australian of the Year Local Hero Award for her role as a whistleblower. An inquiry into the matter known as the Morris Inquiry was started but was terminated on the grounds of perceived bias. [23] A second inquiry known as the Davies Inquiry found that the district manager and the hospital's Director of Medical Services had mostly ignored more than 20 complaints regarding Patel. [23]

On 1 July 2010, Patel was sentenced to seven years' jail after he was found guilty of three charges of manslaughter and one count of grievous bodily harm. [24] Patel appealed his conviction and sentence to the Court of Appeal, his appeal was dismissed. Patel appealed to the Queensland Court of Appeal who rejected his application. He further appealed to the High Court of Australia, which unanimously allowed the appeal and quashed Patel's convictions on the ground that prejudicial evidence had likely influenced the jury on 24 August 2012. [25] [26]

The following year, a retrial was held for one of the manslaughter charges, and Patel was acquitted by the jury. [27] The remaining manslaughter and grievous bodily harm charges were later dropped in exchange for Patel pleading guilty to two counts related to him dishonestly gaining registration and two counts related to dishonestly gaining employment in Queensland. [28] Patel was sentenced to a two-year suspended sentence for those fraud charges. [28] On 15 May 2015, the Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal ordered that Patel's registration with the Medical Board of Australia be revoked, preventing him from ever practising medicine in Australia again. [29] [30]

Fake Tahitian Prince scandal

New Zealand citizen and Queensland Health employee, Hohepa Hikairo 'Joel' Morehu-Barlow, was jailed in 2013 for embezzlement of $16 million from the system between 2007 and 2011. He also pleaded guilty to fraud, for taking part in a Tahitian Prince scam and for using a fake law degree to secure a promotion within Queensland Health. The Queensland Crime and Corruption Commission said in 2013 that the fraud "may be the single largest fraud ever committed in the Queensland public sector". [31]

In 2020 upon his parole from custody, the Australian Border Force cancelled Morehu-Barlow's visa and he was deported to New Zealand under the Migration Act 1958 (Cth). [31]

2010 payroll system implementation

Queensland Health has experienced several issues with its payroll systems and processes over the years, most notably the troublesome 2010 payroll system replacement project. [32] Queensland Health's 2010 payroll system replacement came as a centralisation effort from the Shared Services Initiative, a related precursor to the current Smart Service Queensland whole-of-government offering. [33]

The SAP and Workbrain-based payroll system was implemented by IBM, initially as an interim system to replace the former LATTICE system which was rapidly becoming unsupported by the vendor, and later to be consolidated whole-of-agency payroll and human resources system. The new payroll system went live in March 2010 despite inadequate testing and an expectation that the system would fail to accurately pay health workers. The launch resulted in Queensland Health staff not being paid, being underpaid, or overpaid, for several months and a 10-times increase in manual payroll processing required. The contracts of several Queensland Health senior executives were terminated, and the total delivery and remediation costs for the project ballooned to over $1.2 billion. [33] [34]

2023 payroll corrections

In March 2023, Queensland Health internal auditing found that there had been further payroll issues relating to certain industrial awards being entered incorrectly into the system. Health Minister Yvette D'Ath clarified to parliament that for the majority of affected staff were overpaid by less than a dollar and that the government would not require staff to repay the balance. A limited number of staff received larger overpayments, however only up to $100. [32]

An audit of all Queensland Health payroll during the affected period has been announced and is expected to be completed by the end of June 2023. It is expected that some underpayments, with a value of several million dollars, will be uncovered. Payment corrections (additional pay) is occurring in batches of 50 employees, to allow for payments to begin before the end of the audit. [32]

An external audit of the system found that the industrial awards and instruments have since been corrected and are compliant with Australian and Queensland workplace laws. [32]

See also

Related Research Articles

One of the six founding states of Australia, Queensland has been a federated state subject to the Australian Constitution since 1 January 1901. It is a parliamentary constitutional monarchy. The constitution of Queensland sets out the operation of the state's government. The state's constitution contains several entrenched provisions which cannot be changed in the absence of a referendum. There is also a statutory bill of rights, the Queensland Human Rights Act 2019. Queensland's system of government is influenced by the Westminster system and Australia's federal system of government.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Herston, Queensland</span> Suburb of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia

Herston is an inner suburb of the City of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. In the 2021 census, Herston had a population of 2,311 people.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jayant Patel</span> Indian-born American surgeon (born 1950)

Jayant Mukundray Patel is an Indian-born American surgeon who was accused of gross negligence whilst working at Bundaberg Base Hospital in Queensland, Australia. Deaths of some of Patel's patients led to widespread publicity in 2005. In June 2010, he was convicted of three counts of manslaughter and one case of grievous bodily harm, and sentenced to seven years' imprisonment. In August 2012, all convictions were quashed by the full bench of the High Court of Australia and a retrial was ordered due to "highly emotive and prejudicial evidence that was irrelevant to the case" laid before the jury. A retrial for one of the manslaughter counts resulted in acquittal and led to a plea deal where Patel pleaded guilty to fraud and the remaining charges were dropped. On May 15, 2015, he was barred from practising medicine in Australia.

Gordon Richard Nuttall is an Australian former politician who represented Sandgate in the Queensland Parliament from 1992 to 2006. He was a member of the Labor Party and served as a minister in the Beattie Ministry from 2001 to 2005. In 2009 he was found guilty of corruptly receiving secret commissions during his time in office and jailed for seven years. In 2010, he was found guilty of five charges of official corruption and five charges of perjury and, ultimately, jailed for an additional seven years, the longest jail term for corruption handed to a Commonwealth politician. He was released on parole in July 2015.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anna Bligh</span> Australian politician

Anna Maria Bligh is an Australian lobbyist and former politician who served as the 37th Premier of Queensland, in office from 2007 to 2012 as leader of the Queensland Labor Party. She was the first woman to hold either position. In 2017, she was appointed CEO of the Australian Banking Association.

The Queensland Public Hospitals Commission of Inquiry, often referred to as the Davies Commission, was an inquiry into public hospitals in Queensland, Australia. The inquiry was headed by The Honourable Geoffrey Davies AO QC, a former Supreme Court judge of appeal.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bundaberg Base Hospital</span> Hospital in Queensland, Australia

Bundaberg Base Hospital is the public hospital of Bundaberg, Queensland, Australia. Bundaberg Base Hospital was opened by the Governor of Queensland in 1914.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mater Group</span>

Mater Group was formed in 2016 by aligning Mater Health, Mater Education, Mater Research and Mater Foundation under a single, unified banner. Mater provides care for some 500,000 patients each year. Mater was established in 1906 by the Sisters of Mercy. In 2002, Mater became an incorporated body, charged with the responsibility to continue the Mission of the Sisters of Mercy to "offer compassionate service to the sick and needy".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Townsville University Hospital</span> Hospital in Queensland, Australia

Townsville University Hospital (TUH), formerly TheTownsville Hospital (TTH), is a public tertiary care hospital on Angus Smith Drive, Douglas, Townsville, Queensland, Australia. It is the largest facility within the Townsville Hospital and Health Service (HHS) geographic area. TUH is the major trauma centre for northern Queensland and all medical and surgical specialties are represented. It provides healthcare across the entire North Queensland region, with patients from as far as Mount Isa and Cape York being airlifted or transported to the hospital on a daily basis. This is the third general hospital to be built in Townsville with construction completed in 2001. The next main tertiary referral hospital is the Royal Brisbane and Women's Hospital in Herston, Brisbane, some 1,375 kilometres (854 mi) distant.

Toni Ellen Hoffman is a senior nurse who was made a Member of the Order of Australia and awarded the 2006 Australian of the Year Local Hero Award. She took on the role of whistleblower in informing Queensland Politician Rob Messenger about Jayant Patel, a surgeon who was the subject of the Morris Inquiry and later the Davies Commission. She originally began to raise doubts about the ability of Patel with hospital management and other staff. Both doctors and surgeons who were familiar with his work had also been deeply concerned.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Prince Charles Hospital</span> Major cardiothoracic teaching and tertiary referral hospital in Brisbane, Australia

The Prince Charles Hospital (TPCH) is a major teaching and tertiary referral hospital in the northern suburb of Chermside in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. TPCH is a public hospital operated by Metro North Health, the largest public health service in Queensland Health and in Australia. The hospital is described to be the "leading cardiothoracic hospital in Australia", and is the hub for specialised services including heart and lung transplants, adult cystic fibrosis, adult congenital heart disease and complex cardiac care.

In the United States, Medicare fraud is the claiming of Medicare health care reimbursement to which the claimant is not entitled. There are many different types of Medicare fraud, all of which have the same goal: to collect money from the Medicare program illegitimately.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Electoral district of Bundaberg</span> State electoral district of Queensland, Australia

Bundaberg is an electoral district of the Legislative Assembly of Queensland in central Queensland, Australia. It covers the city of Bundaberg, as well as the immediate surrounding area.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Paul Lucas (politician)</span> Australian politician

Paul Thomas Lucas is an Australian former politician who served as the Attorney-General of Queensland and Minister for Local Government and Special Minister of State in the Bligh Government and the Member for Lytton from 1996 until his retirement at the 2012 state election. Lucas was a solicitor prior to entering Parliament, and has a bachelor's degrees in Economics and in Law and a Master of Business Administration.

John Harris Byrne is a retired Australian jurist who previously served as Senior Judge Administrator of the Supreme Court of Queensland. Having been a judge of that court since 1989, he was one of the court's most experienced judges. He was also Chair of the National Judicial College of Australia, a body which provides programs and professional development resources to judicial officers in Australia. He is now a private Commercial Arbitrator.

Justice Henry George Fryberg was a Justice of the Supreme Court of Queensland, Australia.

The Queensland Health Systems Review or Forster Inquiry was a 2005 Queensland inquiry "to undertake a review of the performance of Queensland Health’s administrative and workforce management systems with a focus on improving health outcomes for Queenslanders." It was conducted by Peter Forster who formerly consulted to the Fitzgerald Inquiry.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Royal Children's Hospital, Brisbane</span> Hospital in Queensland, Australia

The Royal Children's Hospital (RCH) was a hospital for children in Herston, Brisbane, Australia. RCH was located next to the Royal Brisbane and Women's Hospital before it was demolished and the land was used to build the Surgical, Treatment and Rehabilitation Service (STARS).

Walter Sofronoff is an Australian jurist and lawyer who served as the President of the Queensland Court of Appeal (2017–2022) and as the Solicitor-General of Queensland from 2005 to 2014.

Metro North Hospital and Health Service, known as Metro North HHS or as Metro North Health, is the most populous public health district in Queensland and the overarching health service for the statewide tertiary facility, the Royal Brisbane and Women's Hospital. The service operates several hospitals, dental facilities, and community health services in Brisbane and the surrounds, including the Royal Brisbane and Women's Hospital and The Prince Charles Hospital, and covers the area north of the Brisbane River through to Kilcoy. Metro North Health is part of the Queensland Health system.

References

Citations

  1. 1 2 "Queensland Health on Facebook". Facebook . 1 September 2016. Archived from the original on 26 February 2022. Retrieved 30 August 2020.
  2. 1 2 "Department of Health Annual Report 2020–2021" (PDF). Annual Report. Brisbane, Australia: Queensland Government. 28 September 2021. ISSN   1838-4110 . Retrieved 5 November 2021.
  3. "2021-22 Budget". Queensland Health. 15 June 2021. Retrieved 28 May 2022.
  4. "Minister for Health and Ambulance Services, Yvette D'Ath MP". Queensland Cabinet and Ministerial Directory. 1 November 2021. Retrieved 5 November 2021.
  5. "Director-General". Queensland Health. 20 September 2019. Retrieved 30 August 2020.
  6. "Queensland Health organisational structure". Queensland Health. 20 September 2019. Retrieved 30 August 2020.
  7. "Free Hospital Treatment". The Worker . Brisbane. 7 January 1946. p. 10. Retrieved 30 August 2020 via Trove (National Library of Australia).
  8. "Available beds and available bed alternatives as at 30 June, 2011/2012,2012/2013, 2013/2014". Open Data Portal. Queensland Government. 28 January 2015. Retrieved 15 April 2022.
  9. Dennien, Matt (12 January 2022). "'Nine times more likely to end up in hospital': Qld CHO warns the unvaxxed". Brisbane Times. Retrieved 12 January 2022.
  10. "State of Queensland (Department of Health) Annual Report 2012-2013" (PDF). State of Queensland (Queensland Health). Retrieved 17 September 2014.
  11. "About Hospital and Health Services". State of Queensland (Queensland Health). Retrieved 17 September 2014.
  12. "Our Services". Children's Health Queensland . 15 August 2019. Retrieved 15 April 2022.
  13. "About the Patient Travel Subsidy Scheme". Queensland Government . Queensland Health. 19 February 2018. Retrieved 15 April 2022.
  14. "About us". Health Quality and Complaints Commission. Retrieved 22 January 2012.
  15. 1 2 Steven Wardill & Koren Helbig (12 December 2011). "Queensland Health beyond repair, to be broken up, says Premier Anna Bligh". The Courier Mail. News Queensland. Retrieved 22 January 2012.
  16. "Bligh to kill off Queensland Health amid sweeping reforms". Brisbane Times. Fairfax Media. 21 January 2012. Retrieved 22 January 2012.
  17. "Health reforms dismissed as a panic move". Herald Sun. Herald and Weekly Times. 21 January 2012. Retrieved 22 January 2012.
  18. "Australian Health Care Agreements". Archived from the original on 3 August 2012. Retrieved 22 February 2022.
  19. National Healthcare Agreement 2011, Yourhealthgov.au
  20. "Hospital Network and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2012". Archived from the original on 3 October 2012.
  21. "Hospital and Health Services". Archived from the original on 10 November 2012.
  22. "Corporate Office transition to System Manager". Queensland Health. Archived from the original on 10 November 2012.
  23. 1 2 3 Healy, Judith (2011). Improving Health Care Safety and Quality: Reluctant Regulators. Farnham, England: Ashgate Publishing. p. 34. ISBN   978-0-7546-7644-7 . Retrieved 22 January 2012.
  24. 1 2 Amelia Bentley (1 July 2010). "'Totally inadequate': verdict split on Patel sentence". Brisbane Times. Fairfax Media. Retrieved 22 January 2012.
  25. Patel v The Queen [2012] HCA 29 , (2012) 247 CLR 531(24 August 2012), High Court (Australia).
  26. Jared Owens (24 August 2012). "Jayant Patel walks free after High Court quashes manslaughter convictions". The Australian .
  27. Brooke Baskin; Tony Keim; Josh Robertson (14 March 2013). "Jayant Patel not guilty over patient death but more charges loom". The Courier Mail . Retrieved 30 November 2013.
  28. 1 2 Francene Norton & Jason Rawlins (22 November 2013). "Former Bundaberg-based doctor Jayant Patel sentenced over fraud charges". ABC News. Australian Broadcasting Corporation.
  29. "Medical Board of Australia v Patel [2015] QCAT 133 (11 May 2015)". Austlii.edu.au. Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal. 11 May 2015. Retrieved 13 March 2021 via Australasian Legal Information Institute.
  30. Taylor, John (15 May 2015). "Bundaberg surgeon Jayant Patel barred from ever practising medicine again in Australia". ABC News . Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved 15 May 2015.
  31. 1 2 "Fake Tahitian prince deported to New Zealand after defrauding millions from Queensland Government". ABC News . Australian Broadcasting Corporation. 28 February 2020. Retrieved 15 April 2023.
  32. 1 2 3 4 Silk, Marty (17 March 2023). "Queensland health workers may have been underpaid 'millions'". Brisbane Times . Retrieved 15 April 2023.
  33. 1 2 Chesterman, Richard (31 July 2013). "Queensland Health Payroll System Commission of Inquiry Report" (PDF). Queensland Health Payroll System Commission of Inquiry. Archived (PDF) from the original on 27 October 2023. Retrieved 12 November 2023.
  34. Wordsworth, Matt (7 June 2012). "Qld Health pay debacle to cost $1.2b". ABC News . Archived from the original on 20 October 2021. Retrieved 12 November 2023.