TPCH Transplant Benchmarking report
We know how vital Queensland’s heart and lung transplant services are to patients and families across the state and beyond. We take our responsibility to deliver safe high-quality care seriously.
This responsibility demands accountability and transparency to instil public confidence. Last year we commissioned a benchmarking exercise of Queensland Heart and Lung Transplant Services, based at The Prince Charles Hospital, to identify opportunities to strengthen and improve service delivery.
Aspects of the report were extremely concerning and we apologise for any distress this causes to patients, staff, donor families and the broader community.
Metro North accepts the findings and recommendations from the report and is committed to continuously improving our transplant services.
The report provided positive feedback about the lung transplant service, with strong leadership, a cohesive team and outcomes clearly exceeding international benchmarks as noted by the reviewers.
However, we do acknowledge that a number of very significant issues were identified with the heart transplant service which needed urgent attention.
We have a responsibility to address all the issues identified in a timely manner and part of this response is to ensure transparency and openness with our patients, clinicians and the broader community so we can rebuild trust in our services.
We are therefore sharing a redacted version of the benchmarking report that has been approved for release by the Queensland Information Commissioner (QIC). You will see sections and phrases have been redacted for legal reasons. This is to ensure we uphold our requirements to protect the privacy of patients and staff, but we can assure you the issues outlined in these sections have or are being addressed.
Since receiving the report Metro North has commenced implementation of the 43 recommendations. To date, 34 have been completed and the remaining 9 are in progress. These includes a significant additional financial investment (nearly $8 million recurrently) to increase staffing, aligning our donor criteria to national standards, and improvements in reporting for greater transparency. The service is already seeing a noticeable difference, particularly in the culture of our heart transplant service. This is a recognition of the hard work of our current clinical staff in the transplant service, who have our full support.
We are proud of all staff for their commitment to implement the recommendations from the report and improve transplant services.
Since 2016, the lung program has delivered more than 300 transplants, achieving a one-year survival rate of approximately 90 per cent and a median survival of 9 years. This is well above the international average.
The heart service continues to perform strongly, with a longitudinal one-year survival rate of 87 per cent and long-term survival of 55 per cent at 12 years. In addition, the number of heart transplants undertaken has increased significantly since 2023.
Both transplant programs are delivering safe surgical services and excellent outcomes and we are confident that services will continue to improve as further recommendations are implemented.
Behind every number are donor families and transplant recipients placing their trust in our care. These results reflect the high level of skill, compassion and commitment of the staff who walk with each patient through one of medicine’s most demanding journeys, and our commitment to supporting them.
We would like to thank our patients, donor families and community for their support and trust. Providing a second chance at life is not a responsibility we take lightly. We also thank our staff for their commitment and willingness to improve the services, as highlighted in the report, while continuing to undertake this highly complex clinical work.
We remain committed to being open and transparent with our consumers and supporting our clinicians to make further improvements to ensure we provide world class transplant services into the future.
Bernard Curran, Board Chair, Metro North Hospital and Health Board
Nick Steele, Acting Chief Executive, Metro North Hospital and Health Service