Department of Health Acknowledgement of Country The Department of Health acknowledges the traditional custodians of the lands across the State of Queensland, Interpreter accessibility and pays our respects to the Elders past, present, and emerging. We value the culture, traditions and The Queensland Government is committed to providing contributions that the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander accessible services to Queenslanders from all culturally people have contributed to our communities, and and linguistically diverse backgrounds. If you have recognise our collective responsibility as government, difficulty in understanding the annual report, you can communities, and individuals to ensure equality, contact us on telephone (07) 3234 0111 or freecall recognition and advancement of Aboriginal and Torres 13 QGOV (13 74 68) and we will arrange an interpreter to Strait Islander Queenslanders in every aspect of our effectively communicate the report to you. society. www.qld.gov.au/languages Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people are advised that this publication may contain the names of deceased Copyright people. © The State of Queensland (Department of Health) 2020 Purpose Licence: The annual report provides detailed information about the This annual report is licensed by the State of Queensland Department of Health’s financial and non-financial (Department of Health) under a Creative Commons performance for 2019–20. It has been prepared in Attribution (CC BY) 4.0 International licence. accordance with the Financial Accountability Act 2009, the Financial and Performance Management Standard 2009, and the annual report requirements for Queensland Government agencies. CC BY Licence Summary Statement: The annual report aligns to the Department of Health In essence, you are free to copy, communicate and adapt Strategic Plan 2019–2023 and the 2019–20 Service this annual report, as long as you attribute the work to the Delivery Statements. The report has been prepared for State of Queensland (Department of Health). the Deputy Premier to submit to Parliament. It has also To view a copy of this licence, visit been prepared to meet the needs of stakeholders, http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 including government agencies, healthcare industry, community groups and staff. Attribution: The Department of Health is the commonly used term for Content from this annual report should be attributed as: Queensland Health. Queensland Health is the legally recognised body responsible for the overall management The State of Queensland (Department of Health) annual of Queensland’s public health system. All references to report 2019–2020. the Department of Health refer to Queensland Health. Disclaimer: Open data The content presented in this publication is distributed by Information about consultancies, overseas travel, and the the Queensland Government as an information source Queensland Language Services Policy is available on the only. The State of Queensland makes no statements, Queensland Government Open Data website at representations or warranties about the accuracy, https://www.data.qld.gov.au completeness or reliability of any information contained in Accessibility this publication. The State of Queensland disclaims all responsibility and all liability (including without limitation This annual report is available on the Department of for liability in negligence) for all expenses, losses, Health website at http://www.health.qld.gov.au/research- damages and costs you might incur as a result of the reports/reports/departmental/annual-report in electronic information being inaccurate or incomplete in any way, format. and for any reason reliance was placed on such information. Hard copies of the annual report are available by phoning the strategic Communication Branch, Office of the You can provide feedback on the annual report at the Director-General, Department of Health on 07 3708 5376. Queensland Government Get Involved website at Alternatively, you can request a copy by emailing www.qld.gov.au/annualreportfeedback [email protected] Published by the State of Queensland (Queensland Health) 2020. ISSN: 1838–4110 Letter of compliance 1 December 2020 The Honourable Yvette D’Ath MP Minister for Health and Ambulance Services Member for Redcliffe Level 37, 1 William Street Brisbane QLD 4000 Dear Minister I am pleased to submit for presentation to the Parliament the Annual Report 2019–20 and financial statements for the Department of Health. I certify this Annual Report complies with: • the prescribed requirements of the Financial Accountability Act 2009 and the Financial and Performance Management Standard 2019, and • the detailed requirements set out in the Annual report requirements for Queensland Government agencies. A checklist outlining compliance with the annual reporting requirements can be found at page 154 of this annual report. Yours sincerely Dr John Wakefield PSM Director-General Queensland Health 3 Contents Letter of compliance 3 Director-General’s foreword 6 Financial highlights 8 Financial highlights 9 Chief Financial Officer statement 12 About us 13 Our role 14 Our vision 14 Our purpose 14 Our values 14 Our priorities 14 Our contribution to government 15 Queensland public service values 15 Our opportunities and challenges 15 Our organisational structure 16 Executive leadership team 17 Our organisation 23 Our services 24 Our locations 31 Our performance 32 Responding to COVID–19 33 Strategic Achievements 41 Service delivery statements 71 Public Health Report 2019–20 83 Prevention Division (Queensland Health) Regulatory Performance Report 2019–20 96 Our people 104 Workforce profile 105 Strategic workforce planning and performance 105 Early retirement, redundancy and retrenchment 106 Employee performance management framework 106 Employment relations 107 Employee wellbeing and inclusion 107 Working for Queensland Survey 108 Public Sector Ethics Act 1994 108 Our governance 109 Governance framework 110 Leadership team 111 4 Boards, Committees and Councils 115 Statutory bodies 125 Independent statutory bodies and authorities 128 Risk management and accountability 130 Human Rights Act 2019 disclosures 133 Government agreements and legislation 143 Health portfolio legislation 147 Definitions and compliance 151 Acronyms and glossary 152 Compliance checklist 154 Financial statements 30 June 2020 157 5 Director-General’s foreword I am pleased to present the 2019–20 Annual Report for the Queensland Department of Health. This past year has been one of the most challenging, yet inspirational experiences of my career. Not since the 1918– 19 ‘Spanish’ flu pandemic have we faced a public health emergency of this magnitude. From its dramatic emergence into Australia in January 2020, COVID-19 has placed a tremendous strain on our health resources, testing our ability to adapt, adjust and pivot in our pursuit to protect the health of all Queenslanders. Instinctively, we banded together—working collaboratively to protect and keep Queenslanders safe. This is what has inspired me most. And I don’t just refer to the teamwork, resilience, working side-by-side in solidarity within our divisions, but also the engagement and collaboration with our Hospital and Health Services, local and interstate governments, industry and partners. In the space of just a few short months, what we have achieved is no less than extraordinary. Thanks to our public health response, and with the support of our government and Queenslanders, we have so far been able to minimise the health impact of COVID-19. This great achievement is one which we can all be proud of. There have been many highlights during our public health response to the COVID-19 pandemic, which you can read about in further detail in the Responding to COVID-19 section. Some of the most notable achievements for me include: • Establishing the COVID-19 Supply Chain Surety division in May 2020 to address a shortfall in personal protective equipment (PPE) and coordinate Queensland Health’s supply of critical health materials. A major challenge was that more than 70 types of our PPE equipment were sourced from China—in response, we secured Queensland manufacturers to supply essential health equipment, consumables and devices, doubling our emergency medical stockpile to more than 90 days' supply. • Ensuring Queenslanders could continue to access safe and high-quality health services as the COVID-19 pandemic emerged, fast-tracking the roll-out of the state’s telehealth virtual clinics, adding an additional 1600 additional remote consultations and increasing virtual clinic sessions 300 per cent across the state by May 2020. • Transitioning our non-frontline workforce to remote working to allow us to continue to serve our communities, supporting at least 10,000 concurrent connections and allowing 25,000 clinical and corporate applications to be accessed remotely and securely at any one time. • Communicating extensively through a variety of channels to reach and keep all Queenslanders informed, including 356 media releases and press conferences, 810 social media posts and more than 12,500 advertisement placements. During the pandemic, the Queensland community turned to us as a trusted source of information and we responded—answering more than 139,000 social media comments, 50,000 social media private messages, 15,000 media and email enquiries and 3400 website enquiries. • Delivering targeted campaigns to protect vulnerable communities as the transmission of COVID-19 spread, including