The Queensland Government said Queensland hospitals are not in crisis despite all hospitals across the Metro North, Metro South and Gold Coast districts except the Queensland Children’s Hospital reporting a ‘code yellow’ status.
Queensland’s Chief Health Officer Dr Jeannette Young had to activate the state health emergency centre to meet ‘unprecedented demand’ on Tuesday.
Dr Young said the strong response of hospitals in the region shows the system is working, pointing to the 30 additional beds made available within 24 hours when the Mater, Greenslopes and St Vincent’s private hospitals opened to public patients.
Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said ‘no more than’ 15 elective surgeries had to be rescheduled, while Queensland Health Minister Steven Miles attributed the situation to an unusual summer spike of the flu.