Queensland Health - Hospital Crisis 2005

LETTER TO THE EDITOR - 19 April 2005

Dear Editor

I commend Ernie Paussa for his editorial (19/04/05) regarding the crisis in our local Health Service.

Perhaps it is time to say "enough" to the professional administrators running hospitals as if they were their own private enterprises? It seems like Queensland Health operates a cloning machine, churning out boffins who think no one should have an opinion about health care other than themselves; who seem more concerned about their little pile of statistics and keeping the lid on information than about the needs and concerns of the sick, the pregnant or the injured.

If anyone needs a "reality check" it is Mr Allsop and his colleagues in Queensland Health. Why do these people continue to defend the indefensible? Our health services have deteriorated to such an extent that we poach doctors from Third World countries to provide basic hospital services.

The public dismay is not about the nationality of medical practitioners. It is about why Queensland hospitals apparently have become the refuge for bogus doctors who have already faced disciplinary action for malpractice and negligence overseas. It is about why more and more space in our hospitals is being devoted to housing administrators and record-keepers like Mr Allsop while beds are being closed and facilities removed. It is about why a growing economy like Queensland cannot afford to provide medical services at least as good as anywhere else in the world.

These people condemn anyone who dares speak out, be they experienced nurses or the families of patients. Perhaps some of their generous salaries should be diverted to more needier causes until they learn to be accountable to the community they serve?