Logan Hospital
The hospital is operated by the Queensland Government through its Metro South Health portfolio, and provides a range of acute medical, surgical, rehabilitation, maternity and paediatric services to both children and adults. As of 2018, the emergency ward is the second busiest in Queensland, seeing more than 88,000 presentations each year. The catchment population served by Logan Hospital is generally younger, less well-off and more culturally or linguistically diverse than the national median.
The hospital's services include mental health treatment, palliative care, and other medical and surgical services such as obstetrics, gynaecology, orthopaedics, otolaryngology (commonly known as ear, nose and throat), paediatrics, respiratory medicine, neurology, endocrinology, cardiology, renal dialysis, anaesthetics, emergency medicine, intensive care medicine, specialist outpatient clinics, oral health, pathology, medical imaging, allied health services, and pharmacy.
History
Logan Hospital has grown from a 48-bed community hospital in 1990, and 195-bed hospital in 1995, to a 448-bed hospital today, mirroring the rapid growth in population in the Logan region. It was opened by then Premier of Queensland Wayne Goss.
The phase 1 opening in 1990 included an emergency department, general medical wards and a dialysis unit. In 1993, the hospital was included in a reference group for intercultural collaboration. During phase 2, the intensive care unit and coronary care unit opened in 1993, after being relocated from its sister site QEII Hospital.
The ambulatory services building was opened in 2011 after the adjoining private hospital was repurposed.
In 2012, work began on a new emergency department as well as a children's inpatient and rehabilitation unit. An expanded surgical unit replaced the former emergency department site. A rehabilitation unit, MAPU, orthogeriatric and perioperative services started in 2014 and early 2015. Further major expansion projects commenced in 2019 to accommodate rapid population growth in the area, above the state average.
Abortion controversy
In 2016 Logan Hospital's Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology controversially made a written submission to the Parliamentary Committee on the Abortion Law Reform Amendment Bill 2016. This submission requested that medical practitioners who were conscientious objectors be exempt from the legal obligation to participate in terminations. It also proposed that medical practitioners could refuse to refer a woman in need of a termination to another doctor for ongoing care. There was no specific mention in this submission as to whether the exemption would apply in the circumstance of a pregnant woman's life being at risk.
For pregnant women in the Logan Hospital catchment this is highly relevant to their care in pregnancy, as maternal deaths have occurred in the context of restrictive abortion policy, including the 2012 death of Savita Halappanavar in Ireland.
The submission on behalf of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology drew public attention and media coverage because it effectively excludes women living in Brisbane's south from abortion access within the public health system, as the only other public hospital in the catchment is the Mater Women's and Children's Hospital, which is Catholic and actively anti-abortion.
See also
References
- ^ "New blood leading Logan Hospital's Emergency Department". metrosouth.health.qld.gov.au. 23 August 2018.
- ^ "Logan Hospital: About Us". Queensland Health. 10 July 2013. Archived from the original on 24 December 2013. Retrieved 22 December 2013.
- ^ "Queensland Government: Logan Hospital". Archived from the original on 21 October 2012. Retrieved 14 September 2012.
- ^ Jamieson, Gwendolyn Gray (2012). Reaching for Health: The Australian Women's Health Movement and Public Policy. ANU E Press. p. 163. ISBN 978-1921862687. Retrieved 23 December 2013.
- ^ "Logan Hospital Expansion Project". Queensland Health. 10 July 2013. Archived from the original on 24 December 2013. Retrieved 12 January 2014.
- ^ "Logan Hospital Expansion Business Case/Cost Benefit Analysis Summary" (PDF). Government of Queensland. Retrieved 21 October 2021.
- ^ Health (Abortion Law Reform) Amendment Bill 2016 – Submissions
- ^ Submission from the Logan Hospital's Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology to the Parliamentary Committee on the Abortion Law Reform Amendment Bill 2016
- ^ "Early termination, if legally permissible, could have saved Halappanavar" – expert, RTE News
- ^ "Young and Terrified – the Queensland Women Forced to go Interstate for Abortions", The Guardian, 14 July 2018
- ^ "Abortion access in Queensland is about to get even harder", Sydney Morning Herald, Nov. 2016.
External links
- Facility profile – Queensland Government