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Surgeries across four hospitals on Brisbane’s northside are on hold amid a surge of patients arriving at emergency departments.
Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital, The Prince Charles Hospital, Redcliffe Hospital, and Caboolture Hospital have paused category two and three elective surgeries for the next 48 hours to free-up beds for emergency patients.
A spokesperson for Metro North Health, the arm of Queensland Health that operates these hospitals, said affected patients would be contacted directly.
The state’s largest hospital, the RBWH, is among those where surgeries have been “paused”.Credit: Dan Peled
“No patient requiring life-saving clinical care will ever be affected by elective surgery cancellations,” the spokesperson said.
“Emergency surgeries and category 1 elective surgeries will continue at these hospitals, as well as all categories of elective surgery at the Surgical, Treatment and Rehabilitation Service [STARS].”
Metro North said it was responding to peak demand, “which generally aligns with winter, when we see more patients presenting to our hospitals and more patients needing hospitalisation for their symptoms”.
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