Queensland’s report card will not surprise those who test our busy hospitals every day — our hard-working doctors and their patients. They know Queenslanders are waiting longer for essential healthcare than they were a decade ago and urgent action is needed.
While it is pleasing there have been some improvements since the pandemic, the trend across most measures is in the wrong direction. AMA Queensland has called for the state government to implement our solutions for emergency department and planned surgery access in our ambulance ramping and surgical wait list roundtable action plans. We have also supported the Australasian College of Emergency Medicine’s proposed move to hospital access targets. This report shows there is no time to lose.
We applaud the Australian Government’s announcement of a one-off $1.7 billion injection to our public hospitals for 2025–26, including $414 million for Queensland, the largest dollar amount for any jurisdiction. More beds are needed along with safe and cost-efficient innovations in the way we deliver healthcare, however, this will do little if we don’t have the critical mass of staff required in our hospitals. That is where this money should be directed and without delay.
AMA Queensland has established a workforce working group to recommend solutions to attracting, recruiting, retaining and better using our doctors, nurses and allied health professionals, and this report card will assist that work. Knowing how we’re performing today allows us to strive for the grades we want tomorrow.
Key Takeaways
Queensland’s performance paints a varied picture. While most metrics have improved slightly in the previous reporting period, the number of patients completing their ED visit within four hours or less has fallen to a 10-year low.
Table 1: Queensland performance 2023-24 compared to the previous year
| Cat 3 ED on time |
4-hour rule |
Median surgery wait |
Cat 2 surgery wait |
| ✔️ |
❌ |
= |
✔️ |
Table 2: Queensland performance 2023-24 compared to national average (below or above)
| Cat 3 ED on time |
4-hour rule |
Median surgery wait |
Cat 2 surgery wait |
| ▲ |
▼ |
▲ |
▲ |
Emergency department performance - Queensland
Queensland’s emergency department performance saw mixed results during the 2023–24 reporting period. Two years of consecutive improvement have resulted in the percentage of Category 3 ED patients being seen within the recommended time being higher than pre-COVID levels, a welcome sign for patients. However, the proportion of patients completing their ED visits within four hours or less has fallen to a 10-year low, with only 52 per cent of patients being either discharged or admitted to hospital within four hours.
Figure 3: Percentage of Category 3 (urgent) ED patients seen within the recommended time of under 30 minutes — Queensland
Figure 4: Percentage of ED visits completed in four hours or less — Queensland
Planned surgery performance - Queensland
Despite performing better than the national average in both planned surgery metrics measured by the AMA in 2023‒24, Queensland still has room to improve their performance. Queensland’s median wait times were the best in the country for the first 15 years of the 21st century, but now patients are waiting almost twice as long for planned surgery than they were 20 years ago.
Following national trends, there has been a welcome improvement in the percentage of Category 2 patients being seen on time, up from 70 per cent in 2022–23 to 74 per cent in 2023–24.
Figure 5: Median waiting time for planned surgery (days) — Queensland
Figure 6: Percentage of Category 2 planned surgery patients admitted within the recommended (90 days) — Queensland
Public hospital expenditure - Queensland
Figure 7: Per person average annual percentage increase in public hospital funding by government source (constant prices) — Queensland
|
2012‒13 to 2022‒23 |
2012‒13 to 2017‒18 |
2017‒18 to 2022‒23 |
| Federal |
4.53% |
5.54% |
3.53% |
| Queensland Government |
1.74% |
0.39% |
3.11% |
Figure 8: Public hospital funding, per person, by government source (constant prices) — Queensland
The most recent public hospital funding data is from 2022‒23. In Queensland, most public hospital funding (52 per cent) comes from the state government, however state public hospital spending per person of $1,492 per person represents the lowest figure in the nation.
