A FEUD between doctors and management at Cairns Base Hospital has slashed its surgical capacity by half as surgeons walk off the job.

The hospital is in disarray with two surgeons – including the director of surgery – on stress leave following a fallout between staff and management.

An email inviting hospital staff members for beer and wine during work time, to discuss a patient’s death, has also intensified the stand-off from surgeons.

Elective surgeries at the hospital have been cancelled or heavily delayed and outreach surgery to Innisfail Hospital has been suspended.

The district’s only vascular surgeon is one of the surgeons on leave and patients are now being referred back to their GPs.

Some patients have reportedly been sent to Townsville Hospital.

An insider has told The Cairns Post that half of the staff surgical team is now out of action after the two surgeons went on stress leave in June.

The comments come on the back of a shocking week for Queensland Health Minister Stephen Robertson who has been under fire for reports of hospital downgrades and department cutbacks.

Queensland Health has refused to comment on why the Cairns surgeons took leave but a source said a dispute between surgeons and anaesthetists sparked the breakdown and led to one surgeon taking stress leave.

A complaint about a surgeon was made by an anaesthetist, which eventually led to both surgeons taking leave, said the source, who asked not to be named.

The source said the relationship problem snowballed when a patient died and an email was sent to staff inviting them to discuss the death over beer and wine – during work hours.

Both of the surgeons were on stress leave at the time and were disgusted to read the email.

"The email was sent out to all of the staff without consent of the relatives or by the surgeon to present the case," the insider said.

"Normally, when something happens like a death, you have a small circle of people – you don’t have Tom, Dick and Harry there.

"And it’s completely unethical to have alcohol when you discuss something like that.’’

Lawyers are now involved.

The hospital has been plagued with problems of ambulance ramping in recent months and bottlenecks due to a chronic shortage of beds. But the most recent June quarter report showed that long-wait surgical patient numbers had been reduced, largely because of an increase in surgery being outsourced to private doctors.

To tackle the overcrowding, Queensland Heath is planning a $450 million redevelopment of the hospital, after a community campaign launched by The Cairns Post.

The source said Cairns’ surgical dilemma was beginning to mirror Townsville Hospital’s debacle where a squabble between staff saw the hospital’s cardiac services shut down last year.

The Australian Medical Association is expected to comment on the situation today.

Yesterday, a spokesman for Queensland Health could not confirm if the meeting involving alcohol took place or whether a patient’s death was discussed.

A spokeswoman for Queensland Health said a comment could not be given in relation to staff’s personal details but confirmed two surgeons had been on stress leave since June.

Two surgical locums will be employed between now and December to try to cope with the increasing workload.

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