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An expanded pharmacy service at the Toowoomba Hospital Emergency Department is helping patients get home sooner to enjoy the Christmas period with their families.
The permanent pharmacy service, which involves the placement of pharmacists in the department, is designed to quickly resolve any issues with medication before patients are discharged from the hospital.
Darling Downs Health Service Chief Executive Annette Scott PSM said the service had in some cases, reduced patients’ length of stay in emergency by approximately half a day.
With the increasing number of people turning up to our emergency departments, it’s vital we ensure patients get the care they need as quickly as possible.
Darling Downs Health Chief Executive Annette Scott PSM
“Darling Downs Health has seen significant reductions to the number of stays greater than 24 hours at our emergency departments – improving by 94 per cent from October last year.
With Christmas just around the corner, initiatives such as these will help people, who come to us for care, be home with their families sooner.”
Preliminary figures show there were more than 400 patient-pharmacist encounters in November 2025, a 13 per cent increase compared to the same time last year.
Senior pharmacist Alexander Hilton said the initiative had led to better outcomes for patients.
“It’s helped identify medication-related presentations and medication issues earlier, which then means the patients spend less time in hospital and more time at home,” Mr Hilton said.
“The patients are very appreciative of leaving the department sooner - being able to get home is what they want.”
Mr Hilton said the initiative had also improved collaboration between staff at the Emergency Department.
“I work very closely with the nurses and the doctors and the other allied health clinicians with providing education around medication use and medication safety,” he said.
“We are also a good resource for clinical questions.”
The latest quarterly performance data for Toowoomba Hospital show there were 5,288 presentations to the Emergency Department, up 7.9 per cent compared to the same time last year.
The total number of presentations in the July – September quarter have increased by nearly 10 per cent over the past five years, with 16,043 turning up to the Emergency Department in 2025, compared to 14,615 in 2020.