The hospital was created by the merging of the Royal Brisbane Hospital and the Royal Brisbane Women's Hospital in 2003. In the same year the hospital precinct was listed on the Queensland Heritage Register.
Queensland Health was restructured toward the end of 2005 from 38 "health districts" to 20. There were a number consolidations particularly in the urban areas with the formation of the "Northside" and "Southside" Districts. Northside District included three major hospital facilities including The Prince Charles Hospital, Redcliffe and Caboolture Hospitalswhile Southside brought the Logan, Redlands, Beaudesert and Queen Elizabeth II Jubilee Hospitals together. Somewhat strangely the Royal Brisbane and Women's Hospital (RBWH) on the Northside, and the Princess Alexandra Hospital or regional centre on the Southside remained independent entities or Districts in their own right.
From September 2008 the 20 health service districts were further reduced to 15. According to a Queensland Health media release, nine districts remain unchanged. They are: Central Queensland, Townsville, Mackay, Cairns, Torres Strait, Cape York, Mount Isa, Central West and South West Districts. Six new districts were created. They are:
- Darling Downs-West Moreton incorporating the former Toowoomba and Darling Downs and West Moreton South Burnett districts.
- Sunshine Coast-Wide Bay incorporating the Sunshine Coast - Cooloola, Wide Bay and Fraser Coast health service districts.
- Metro South incorporates the Southside Health Service District and Princess Alexandra Hospital.
- Metro North incorporates the Northside Health Service District and Royal Brisbane and Women's Hospital.
- Children’s Health Services, will oversee the implementation of a Statewide paediatric service.
In January 2008 there was a public health scare over concerns about lead levels at the Royal Brisbane and Women's Hospital. Lead tests carried out at a Brisbane hospital found levels were safely below recommended standards. Queensland Health said there was no need to worry about children being exposed to lead at the Royal Brisbane and Women's Hospital after air and surface swabs returned results below the levels recommended by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
In February 2008 the hospital was hit by a "super bug" outbreak. The bacteria, known as Vancomycin resistant enterococci or VRE. The hospital closed two 30-bed wards to new admissions in early December after 21 patients tested positive to VRE. Nurses were forced to take extreme measures to stop the bacteria spreading.
Brishbane health system
Australia’s medical infrastructure and healthcare systems are world class. The state-run healthcare scheme – Medicare – is an Australia-wide health insurance scheme, funded through income tax. Healthcare under Medicare is available to all citizens and permanent residents of Australia. Under the Medicare scheme, Australian residents receive:
• free treatment as a public patient in a public hospital;• free or subsidised treatment by doctors in a general practice; and
• subsidies on some treatments by participating specialists, optometrists and dentists.
Many Australians choose to take out some form of private health insurance. The levels of cover range from ancillary (for example, dental and optical treatment) to full hospital cover.
Visitors from other countries that have signed special agreements with Australia can receive free emergency public hospital services.
For further information visit the Medicare Australia website.
Brishbane Health care is a department of the Government of Queensland which operates and administers the state's public health system. The Minister for Health and Ambulance Services
" title="Cameron Dick">Cameron Dick is responsible for the department, which consists of the Department of Health and 16 Health and Hospital Services. Queensland Health had 64,192 employees and a budget of $11.05 billion in the 2012-2013 fiscal year.
In the mid-1940s Queensland was the first state in Australia to introduce free and universal public hospital treatment a policy that some other states followed.
