http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,25877367-23289,00.html
A SWINE flu patient on life support was flown 700km between four Queensland hospitals in search of a bed, forcing Queensland Health to apologise to the man's family yesterday for the medical milk run.
The 48-year-old man, attached to a ventilator to help him breathe, was flown from hospital in the north Queensland town of Atherton to Cairns hospital, but the intensive care unit was full.
The chopper then refuelled and flew the man south to Townsville, which was also full.
He was then transferred to a second helicopter so the first one could return to base. After four hours, the desperately ill man arrived at the Mackay hospital, where he remains in a stable yet critical condition in the intensive care unit.
Patients dangerously ill with swine flu are taking up one in five intensive care beds in Queensland, which has started cancelling elective surgery to cope with a peak in infections expected at the end of this month.
The nation's chief health officers will meet in Melbourne on Friday to decide who will get priority for immunisation once a vaccine becomes available in October.
Swine flu has killed 67 Australians and landed 105 in intensive care.
Queensland's chief medical officer, Jeanette Young, said yesterday health workers, pregnant women and indigenous people were likely to be first in line for the swine flu shots.
She said Queensland had already bought 55 more ventilators, boosting the number of intensive care beds to 194. But hospitals were also dealing with staff shortages.
"We've also got to look at the staff," Dr Young said.
"It's not just the beds and the ventilators and the monitors and all the other equipment. It's (about) using the best staff."
Dr Young said hospitals could call extra staff in to work "once, twice, four times but you can't do it for months on end".
"We know that, with this pandemic, it's going to be months before we have a vaccine ... and we can then bring it all to a conclusion," she said.
"We're trying to spread this load (of swine flu patients) out equally through the state so we can manage it in the best way possible."
Dr Young apologised to the family of the man flown from Atherton to Mackay, but said a direct flight would have saved only an hour.
"It took perhaps a little bit longer, maybe an hour longer, by moving (him) there rather than leaving (him) in the north but it meant (he) had very, very good care because they had staff who were available (in Mackay)."
Dr Young's deputy, Andrew Wilson, revealed that hospitals were "slowing down elective surgery in some places" to free up beds in intensive care.
"Where we recognise there is going to be a problem, we try to warn people in advance and cancel or reschedule their operations," he said.
"We try to avoid sudden cancellations but inevitably that does sometimes happen at this time of the year."
A SWINE flu patient on life support was flown 700km between four Queensland hospitals in search of a bed, forcing Queensland Health to apologise to the man's family yesterday for the medical milk run.
The 48-year-old man, attached to a ventilator to help him breathe, was flown from hospital in the north Queensland town of Atherton to Cairns hospital, but the intensive care unit was full.
The chopper then refuelled and flew the man south to Townsville, which was also full.
He was then transferred to a second helicopter so the first one could return to base. After four hours, the desperately ill man arrived at the Mackay hospital, where he remains in a stable yet critical condition in the intensive care unit.
Patients dangerously ill with swine flu are taking up one in five intensive care beds in Queensland, which has started cancelling elective surgery to cope with a peak in infections expected at the end of this month.
The nation's chief health officers will meet in Melbourne on Friday to decide who will get priority for immunisation once a vaccine becomes available in October.
Swine flu has killed 67 Australians and landed 105 in intensive care.
Queensland's chief medical officer, Jeanette Young, said yesterday health workers, pregnant women and indigenous people were likely to be first in line for the swine flu shots.
She said Queensland had already bought 55 more ventilators, boosting the number of intensive care beds to 194. But hospitals were also dealing with staff shortages.
"We've also got to look at the staff," Dr Young said.
"It's not just the beds and the ventilators and the monitors and all the other equipment. It's (about) using the best staff."
Dr Young said hospitals could call extra staff in to work "once, twice, four times but you can't do it for months on end".
"We know that, with this pandemic, it's going to be months before we have a vaccine ... and we can then bring it all to a conclusion," she said.
"We're trying to spread this load (of swine flu patients) out equally through the state so we can manage it in the best way possible."
Dr Young apologised to the family of the man flown from Atherton to Mackay, but said a direct flight would have saved only an hour.
"It took perhaps a little bit longer, maybe an hour longer, by moving (him) there rather than leaving (him) in the north but it meant (he) had very, very good care because they had staff who were available (in Mackay)."
Dr Young's deputy, Andrew Wilson, revealed that hospitals were "slowing down elective surgery in some places" to free up beds in intensive care.
"Where we recognise there is going to be a problem, we try to warn people in advance and cancel or reschedule their operations," he said.
"We try to avoid sudden cancellations but inevitably that does sometimes happen at this time of the year."