Spot on. Tuesday night I was getting flashing lights in 1 eye, and being a diabetic, I knew there was a distinct possibility that something quite nasty could be happening to that eye. I went on the net to a site that will give you the symptoms and causes and when to seek treatment. My symptoms matched the possible detachment or a tear in the retina of my eye.

I contacted the 13nurse helpline and the nurse I spoke to advised me to go to Nambour Hospital. I do not have anyone I can ask to drive me from Mooloolaba to Nambour, and it costs more than I can afford in a taxi - even with half price fares to get there. I was told by the nurse to call an ambulance - which I did. I explained to the ambulance operator on the phone it was not an emergency as such. The ambo's arrived not too long after and we talked about it and they told me that there were a lot of people on trolleys in hallways etc, and I could be waiting hours and besides that I needed specialist treatment and that Nambour Hospital was not going to call in an eye specialist at night.

I opted to stay at home, be quiet, go to bed, and see an optometrist the next day who could make me an appt with the specialist at the eye care centre in Maroochydore. I did this and I see a specialist today who is an expert in diabetic problems of the eye and who also is an expert with laser treatments.

Yes, I very well could have a tear in my retina I was told yesterday but the optometrist I saw is not permitted to use the stronger drops in my eyes that a specialist may use, so he could not see all of my eye. A very dear friend in Canberra has offered to pay for the treatment and the visit. It's a bugger being poor I can tell you.

Not only in Emergency. When a Specialist is at a meeting for over an hour, causing a patient to wait for a prescription, that a receptionist could hand over in five minutes and a Registered Sister could explain the ramifications of the medication. Particularly when the diagnosis is bad and the patient wants to get home to loved ones.

Ed, Having watched the news last night, again another typical response from a Health Minister who follows the same path as his predecessor - Wendy Edmonds. Having had a quick read through the Hansard transcript of the Queensland State Parliament's Question Time, I note this response from the health minister.

" Can I just deal with the issue of the Sunshine Coast. Those opposite asked me what I am doing about the Sunshine Coast. I told the House that we are building a new 650-bed tertiary hospital. We already delivered 30 new beds by June this year at Nambour. We are already delivering 30 additional beds at Caloundra by the end of this year, and we have recently announced a new 96-bed ward to be built at Nambour Hospital. That is our record. What was their record during the last election campaign?

If I recall correctly, the sole sum of their election commitments for the Sunshine Coast was 25 beds at Noosa. That was it. It is a bit rich for the member to come in here and suggest that we are not doing anything when their commitment was for 25 solitary beds in Noosa and to not doing anything about the rest of the Sunshine Coast while we get on with the job of delivering 30 extra beds at Nambour, 30 extra beds at Caloundra, another 96 beds at Nambour over the next couple of years and 650 beds at Kawana. That is in stark relief to what people can expect from the LNP when the next election comes around—chronic under performance".

The medical system in Queensland and the rest of Australia has been morally bankrupt for many years. I call on the media to focus more attention on this issue. Bring the contributing players out into the open and identify them.

Yes lovethecoast like you I have only had excellent service from the Nambour Hospital emergency service. Like every emergency section they prioritize each case, if you go in with a sore throat expect to wait a lot longer than someone with a more severe injury. Far better to use the 7 Day Medical centres for the not so serious cases.

"Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has warned teachers’ unions that the government is intent on lifting national education standards and they should get on board the 21st century."

Why not rate hospitals, waiting lists, and secret lists to get on waiting lists while you're at it Kevvie ?

Bring on the Health Revolution !

JustThinking I have worked for 10 years in the private system in senior nursing management and now at the public system and I know that the public system bed managers ring the private hospitals every day on the coast and are told that they will have available beds but none of the specialists are admitting at the moment, or we are told they are overly full with medical patients or that the patients are too sick or too complex, which is not at all the agreement you are talking about.......the private system does not have the same scrutiny or pressure placed on them by the public to provide a service that people are paying big dollars for.

In responding further to the above story, there are some excellent responses from those readers who feel passionate (perhaps) about the state of our hospital system. This afternoon, the Queensland Health Minister was again interviewed on a local radio station here in Brisbane and said that there were cranes on virtually every hospital in this state engaging in upgrades.

I also note a report where the population projection for the Sunshine Coast for the next few years has been down-graded and across other areas of this state. As this will be good news for those living on the Sunshine Coast, there's no excuse for a government department getting staff and more importantly, doctors off-side. Didn't the Health Minister over the 2 years that he has been in the job, made the call that 'we've turned the corner" and that things were improving?

Didn't the minister also say that the demand on hour hospitals was because of people with the flu? Even at the local hospital where I live, I know that the staff are under increasing pressure and even my wife and another lady missed out on a meal for nearly 24 hours because - perhaps, the proper checking wasn't carried out. It just highlights that there's a shortage of staff.

Sorry JustThinking but my knowledge is very different from yours..perhaps you will discover for yourself if you or one of your loned ones requires hospitalisation via DEM of Nambour General, if you have private medical cover. As a manager of a Medical ward at a private hospital here for many years here on the coast, we routinely couldn't accept admissions of complicated social admissions or very sick patients as we did not have the ability or resources to care for these patients and the specialists were not willing to take on such ill people rather leaving these complicated cases for the public system to 'sort' out with the use of social workers and community planning nurses ect..that is why I eventually got jack and moved from the private sector to the public. The surgical admissions into the private system are different...this is all 'case payed' and attracts a much better revenue maker than what is clogging up the public system during an usual winter.

Certainly not disagreeing with you that certain cases aren't accepted in to the private hospital as they don't have the facilities for appropriate care. And also I think the public hospital staff do an amazing job with what they're given to deal with. As far as bill paying goes too, if a patient is in a private hospital long-term then the fund pays less. Which I guess makes that patient 'unattractive' to the private hospitals.

We have private cover, and even though I'm past 'having babies' stage, if I had my time over I still would have my babies in a public hospital due to better facilities in an emergency situation.

Agree flip. But so are the sun lovers with their sun cancers and associated medical problems, and the ever-increasing amount of overweight people with their myriad of health problems that involves expensive critical care.