Darling Downs doctors, nurses, paramedics and health professionals are expected to receive up to $130 million in extra funding to ramp up their COVID-19 preparations thanks to the Palaszczuk Government.
Minister for Health and Ambulance Services Steven Miles today met with staff at Toowoomba Hospital to thank them for their dedication to protecting their community.
"COVID-19 has impacted communities across our state, and I would like to thank the staff at Toowoomba Hospital for their ongoing dedication to protecting their fellow Queenslanders," Minister Miles said.
"We are in extraordinary circumstances, and I would like to wholeheartedly thank our health heroes on the frontline who have been working around the clock to care for and manage patients who have fallen ill to COVID-19.
"They have done such a wonderful job from the beginning in planning and responding to COVID-19 in their community."
Darling Downs Health Chief Executive Dr Peter Gillies also acknowledged the hard work of staff.
"Our most important resource is our people," Dr Gillies said.
"All our staff have worked hard to plan for the projected demand on our services and I am incredibly proud of how quickly we have been able to prepare.
"As a health service we have put significant resources into increasing our capacity in the areas we need to – in our intensive care, in our wards, and in our emergency departments.
"We've recently trained our clinical staff in Emergency Management and Education Training for COVID-19 positive patients, so they are ready on the front line.
"We know that it's not easy for people to practice social distancing, but at this time, we need our communities to save lives by staying home.
"It's the one thing everyone can do to help keep people safe."
Minister Miles said one of the main purposes of our visits is to meet with key clinicians and executives and determine what more can be done to contain COVID-19.
"Every one of our Hospital and Health Services has a comprehensive plan in place but pandemics by their very nature are unpredictable and apt to change rapidly so it's critical they have our full support."
To date 953 cases of the novel coronavirus have been confirmed in Queensland, an increase of 10 cases in the past day. Five people have died from the disease.
Darling Downs Hospital and Health Service is currently managing 19 positive cases of COIVD-19 with no patients currently being treated in hospital The Health Service has managed a total of 41 positive cases, including two deaths.
Queensland Chief Health Officer, Dr Jeannette Young said no region was immune to the novel coronavirus.
"While the majority of cases are in southeast Queensland, numbers are unfortunately climbing in regional areas of the state," she said.
"This is a pandemic, which means no matter where people live, they are at risk of COVID-19. The best way to avoid infection is to follow our advice and comply with rules in place regarding quarantine and isolation, social distancing, shutdown protocols, personal hygiene and non-essential travel.
"Heeding our advice will save lives; if not your own, then someone else's."
