Question on Notice
Health and Environment Committee
Oral Briefing – 29 November 2021
QUESTION asked by the Member for Thuringowa (Mr Aaron Harper MP) – Data on the number of ambulance transfers from residential aged care facilities to hospital emergency departments – broken down by year, by HHS / facility, from 2011-12. ANSWER Attachment 1 provides a report containing the number of ambulance transfers from residential aged care facilities to Queensland Health hospital Emergency Departments by financial year, Hospital and Health Service (HHS) and facility for the period 1 July 2011 to 31 October 2021. BACKGROUND
Identification of transports by the Queensland Ambulance Service (QAS) from
residential aged care facilities (RACFs) are based on street address information
collected within the Computer Aided Dispatch (CAD) system during the call taking
process.
The Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety, established on
8 October 2018, defined RACFs as; “Residential aged care provides support and
accommodation for older people who are unable to continue living independently in
their own homes and who need ongoing help with everyday tasks.” (Final Report,
Vol2, Section 1.4.3, p22 -
https://agedcare.royalcommission.gov.au/sites/default/files/2021-03/final-report-
volume-2_0.pdf).
Residential aged care services can exist as a defined unit within larger residential
facilities that have multiple levels of supported living, for example independent living
to high level 24 hour care, making the identification of responses specifically to
RACFs challenging.
Prior to the Royal Commission, there was lack of a standardised definition for
RACFs, and the address at call taking could be coded within Computer Aided
Dispatch (CAD) to a ‘Location type’ of ‘Queensland Health Aged Care’ or ‘Nursing
Home’ or potentially to ‘Private Residence’.
Activities associated with the Royal Commission generated a list of defined RACF
addresses that could be mapped within the QAS CAD system to a ‘Location type’ of
‘RACF’.
Identification of specific RACF locations within the QAS CAD system was introduced
during the 2018-19 financial year, commencing in March 2019, with data quality
improvements in the use of this location type at the point of collection occurring
throughout the 2018-19 financial year.
Correct identification of RACF locations is still reliant upon address details being
accurately acquired and entered at call taking.
In view of the introduction of the specific definition and identification of RACF
locations in CAD in 2018-19 financial year, comparison of counts of transports from
RACFs should not be made between the period up to and including the 2018-19
financial year and 2019-20 financial year onwards.
Source : QACIR Query as at 30/11/2021
LASN DESTINATION LOCATION 2011-2012 2012-2013 2013-2014 2014-2015 2015-2016 2016-2017 2017-2018 2018-2019 2019-2020 2020-2021 2021-2022 to 31-10-21
QH ATHERTON HOSPITAL 12 19 51 81 125 130 133 82 105 151 48
QH CAIRNS BASE HOSPITAL 235 363 402 414 647 980 953 1012 1425 1391 417
QH INNISFAIL HOSPITAL 7 3 8 24 36 32 38 71 113 128 42
QH MAREEBA HOSPITAL 1 1 2 2 2 1 16 43 75 18
QH MOSSMAN HOSPITAL 10 16 11 18 24 26 29 42 49 62 40
QH TULLY HOSPITAL 30 31 24 35 60 46 25 24 55 41 27
QH YARRABAH HEALTH SERVICE 1 10 11 3
TOTAL 295 432 497 574 894 1216 1179 1248 1800 1859 595
CAPRICORN COAST HOSPITAL AND HEALTH SERVICE 90 73 71 84 91 117 149 201 223 301 98
MOUNT MORGAN HOSPITAL 2
QH BILOELA HOSPITAL 6 9 7 3 9 15 10 9 15 18 16
QH EMERALD HOSPITAL 14 23 45 46 58 62 58 47 91 77 25
QH GLADSTONE HOSPITAL 30 58 83 95 74 115 83 79 152 139 52
QH MOUNT MORGAN HOSPITAL 1 44 38 26 38 69 35 7
TOTAL 140 163 206 229 278 347 326 374 550 570 198
QH BLACKALL HOSPITAL 12 27 18 23 14 20 15 8 15 28
QH LONGREACH HOSPITAL 2 4 3 6 3 5 2 11 19 8
TOTAL 12 29 22 26 20 23 20 10 26 47 8
QH MATER CHILDRENS HOSPITAL 3 4 3 1 1 2
QH PCH CHILDRENS ED X6947 10 29 26 26 38 35 15
QH ROYAL CHILDRENS HOSPITAL 1 1 10 3 1 2
TOTAL 4 4 4 11 14 30 26 30 38 35 15
QH CHERBOURG HOSPITAL 2 3 2 4
QH CHINCHILLA HOSPITAL 3 43 19
QH GOONDIWINDI HOSPITAL 4 18 8 14 22 21 11 3 15 38 14
QH INGLEWOOD HOSPITAL 1 2 5 4 1
QH JANDOWAE HEALTH SERVICES 11 12 15 21 26 14 14 2 2 7
QH KINGAROY HOSPITAL 19 45 56 42 53 72 47 39 79 107 45
QH MILES HEALTH SERVICE 4 4 3 31 8 9
QH MILLMERRAN HOSPITAL 1 1 2 6 8 11 9 21 26 4
QH MURGON HOSPITAL 1 1 1 1 1 11 40 69 38
QH NANANGO HOSPITAL 1 7 1 2
QH OAKEY HEALTH SERVICE 1 2 10 7 7
QH TARA HOSPITAL 3 6 8 10 12 15 29 24 15 4
QH TAROOM HOSPITAL 1 2 1 2 1 1 9 12 6
QH TEXAS HOSPITAL 1
QH TOOWOOMBA BASE HOSPITAL 228 482 473 524 524 576 601 573 1095 1069 347
TOTAL 274 569 555 614 643 706 702 682 1347 1402 494
QH GOLD COAST HOSPITAL ROBINA CAMPUS 587 955 1014 1192 1509 1844 1829 1574 2360 2968 1050
QH GOLD COAST UNIVERSITY HOSPITAL 1157 1693 1876 2071 1924 1569 2152 2178 763
TOTAL 587 955 2171 2885 3385 3915 3753 3143 4512 5146 1813
QH BOWEN HOSPITAL 16 56 54 60 59 65 76 57 79 84 27
QH MACKAY BASE HOSPITAL 263 422 424 472 530 699 570 653 988 946 258
TOTAL 279 478 478 532 589 764 646 710 1067 1030 285
QH MATER ADULTS HOSPITAL 349 603 643 627 759 893 1098 1106 1425 1884 438
TOTAL 349 603 643 627 759 893 1098 1106 1425 1884 438
QH CABOOLTURE HOSPITAL 607 1142 1113 1149 1310 1521 1087 842 1398 1649 439
QH KILCOY HOSPITAL 17 29 19 14 21 34 36 27 13 12 9
QH PRINCE CHARLES HOSPITAL 754 1314 1252 1299 1249 1555 1408 1528 2303 2575 853
QH REDCLIFFE HOSPITAL 699 1290 1635 1655 2056 2586 2436 2080 2663 2455 766
QH ROYAL BRISBANE HOSPITAL 681 1073 1162 1221 1324 1369 1122 1072 1430 1577 466
QH RWH 1 3 3 2 7 7 3 1
TOTAL 2759 4851 5184 5338 5962 7072 6096 5552 7808 8268 2533
QH BEAUDESERT HOSPITAL 9 15 5 18 22 25 22 23 85 65 36
QH DUNWICH PUBLIC HOSPITAL 1 1 1
QH LOGAN COMMUNITY HOSPITAL 815 1382 1497 1424 1691 1742 1463 1069 1321 1926 664
QH PRINCESS ALEXANDRA HOSPITAL 823 1337 1432 1326 1112 1104 897 748 1279 1359 480
QH QUEEN ELIZABETH HOSPITAL 457 784 1153 1355 1477 1785 1562 1613 2266 2364 670
QH REDLANDS HOSPITAL 750 1389 1424 1037 1188 1387 1310 1132 1756 1899 563
QH WYNNUM HOSPITAL 8 4 2 2 5 2 3
TOTAL 2863 4911 5514 5162 5495 6046 5257 4585 6707 7613 2413
QH MORNINGTON ISLAND HOSP 1 1 4 2
QH MOUNT ISA BASE HOSPITAL 59 146 129 128 173 136 86 48 77 86 26
TOTAL 59 146 129 128 173 136 86 49 78 90 28
QH CUNNAMULLA HOSPITAL 1 3 3 4 2 2 1 7 3
QH DIRRANBANDI HOSPITAL 1
QH MITCHELL HOSPITAL 16 11
QH ROMA GENERAL HOSPITAL 6 17 17 12 6 7 4 9 22 18 3
QH SAINT GEORGE HOSPITAL 7 17 23 41 34 22 15 16 20 8 5
QH SURAT HOSPITAL 1
TOTAL 30 48 43 57 42 31 20 25 50 29 9
QH SUNSHINE COAST UNIVERSITY HOSPITAL 446 1429 1239 1955 1995 787
TOTAL 446 1429 1239 1955 1995 787
QH THURSDAY ISLAND HEALTH CENTRE 4 2 1 4 6 1 2 4 1
QH THURSDAY ISLAND HOSPITAL 2 15 20 27 35 35 15 15 19 31 6
QH WEIPA IHS (A&E) 1
TOTAL 6 17 20 28 40 41 15 16 21 35 7
QH IPSWICH HOSPITAL 155 314 257 412 570 578 476 323 628 848 292
TOTAL 155 314 257 412 570 578 476 323 628 848 292
QH CHILDERS HOSPITAL 5 4 2 1 2 1 5 7 7 3
QH GIN GIN HOSPITAL 2 1 3 2 1 7 18 29 7
QH HERVEY BAY HOSPITAL 219 340 381 409 513 588 535 533 782 982 372
QH MARYBOROUGH HOSPITAL 107 141 182 210 246 294 264 213 219 343 117
TOTAL 331 487 566 620 764 885 800 758 1026 1361 499
UNMAPPED TOTAL 2653 4154 4377 4540 4921 5556 4879 5243 7334 7146 2593
10796 18161 20666 21783 24549 28685 26808 25093 36372 39358 13007
Note : The From Location Type has been amended over time. The RACF Location Type was created during the Royal Commission to facilitate reporting by the RACF category, which was a progressive rollout that commenced in
March 2019 and was completed in May 2019. This affects the historical figures when comparing related Location Types e.g. Nursing Home.
Note: The Location Type field is not consistently populated in the CAD system, therefore the figures in this report will be under stated.
SUNSHINE COAST
TORRES AND CAPE
WEST MORETON
WIDE BAY
Grand Total
Queensland Ambulance Service
Number of Code 1 & 2 Transports from Residential Aged Care facilities (location types of Residential Aged Care, QH Aged Care and Nursing Home) to QH ED's by FY by HHS of
the destination ED for the period 01 July 2011 to 31 October 2021
MACKAY
MATER PUBLIC HOSPITALS
METRO NORTH
METRO SOUTH
NORTH WEST
SOUTH WEST
CAIRNS AND HINTERLAND
CENTRAL QUEENSLAND
CENTRAL WEST
CHILDRENS HEALTH
QUEENSLAND
DARLING DOWNS
GOLD COAST