Bright magazine - Summer 2025

Read time

Three Nurse Practitioners in scrubs with stethoscopes stand smiling outside Caloundra Minor Injury and Illness Clinic
Jennifer Doherty, Nurse Practitioner, Courtney Orkild, Nurse Practitioner Candidate and Cleeve Kwan, Nurse Practitioner, outside the Caloundra Minor Injury and Illness Clinic. Read about the Minor Injury and Illness Clinic and when should you use it in this issue of Bright

Welcome to Bright!

Find the latest copy of Bright Magazine in our facility waiting rooms or download a digital version to read now.

We had some feedback on our last edition of BRIGHT that you wanted to see data on how we’re going as a health service so I thought I would take the opportunity to give you a snapshot.

At the time of publication, this is the most recent published quarterly data (April to June 2025):

41,887

patient admissions (up 0.5%)

20,333

emergency department arrivals (up 1.4%)

3,673

children 14 and under to our EDs (up 1.8%)

14

minutes median wait time across all categories (same as last year)3

100%

of category 1 patients seen in clinically recommended timeframes

8,120

category 4 and 5 arrivals
(down 3.1%)

5,371

ED arrivals by ambulance (up 0.2%)

932

babies born (down 1.6%)

Our clinicians work hard to balance emergency and planned care. Emergency departments can fill up quickly and unpredictably, often driven by seasonal illness, school holiday visitors, accidents, or sudden surges in patient demand. These pressures ripple through the whole hospital, affecting bed availability, staffing, and the ability to maintain scheduled procedures.

I take these challenges really seriously. The waiting lists aren’t numbers; they’re people. Our teams are working hard to provide the right services with coordination, flexibility, and constant communication to keep both emergency and planned services working together.

I want to say thank you to all of our teams for the work you do in supporting patient-centred care.

…and to our patients and community, thank you for your patience and kindness during these busy times. We know waiting can be hard, but please remember that it often means our teams are by the side of someone’s loved one who is very unwell, giving them the care and attention they need.

Dr Peter Gillies 
Chief Executive

In this issue

  • Celebrating 50 years of nursing at Maleny Soldiers Memorial Hospital: Meet Pam Porter
  • What is the Minor Injury and Illness Clinic and when should you use it?
  • Meet the team at the Gympie Nurse-led Walk-in Clinic
  • New health hub opens in Maroochydore
  • From heart attack to 400km: The ride of Brad Coats’ life
  • SCUH-first procedure helps young patient avoid liver transplant
  • One year, 150 women, and a whole new way to experience care
  • The heart of healing: how the Jabba Jabba team supports families from birth and beyond
  • Keeping kids healthy
  • SCHI is strengthening research capacity in Queensland
  • Meet our Executive team
Bright magazine Autumn cover