Speaking alongside the premier, Health Minister Tim Nicholls estimated 60 beds – about 22 per cent of maximum capacity – in Redland Hospital were taken up by patients left waiting for a specialist facility that didn’t yet exist.

“We are ground zero for the problem,” Nicholls said.

“In places like Rockhampton and Townsville, we have patients who have been in our hospitals for over 1000 days.”

Statewide, Nicholls estimated 1126 people occupied these long-stay beds in hospitals.

“That is a hospital the size of the Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital, the largest hospital in the state,” he said.

Crisafulli said Queensland was “the tip of the spear” because it was a particularly decentralised state, but said pressure on the federal government had come from other state and territories in “a national push for a national problem”.

“This is uncharted territory – it’s very rare for state and territory premiers to come to one,” he said.

“The reason why is we all see the same thing, and that is the dignity of care cannot be made available if the federal government doesn’t step up to the plate.”

In early October, state governments criticised federal Health Minister Mark Butler over plans to rein in national spending across health, aged care and the NDIS, expected to balloon to more than 25 per cent of the federal budget by the next election.

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State and territory governments said the resulting belt-tightening would see them short-changed tens of billions of dollars.

In 2023, the federal government promised to cover 42.5 per cent of public hospital costs by 2030 and 45 per cent by 2035.

Last month, it denied claims it was not contributing to state and territory health budgets, pointing to an additional $20 billion over five years for public hospitals on top of $195 billion. Crisafulli said the amount still fell short of earlier promises.

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