Hospital and health services had only recently started to plan strategically for their future workforce needs, and planning roles in some services were vacant for months while a suitable person was recruited.

Mr Worrall also said Queensland Health would likely struggle to know whether it was running a sustainable health system because it had not defined what one was.

“Queensland Health does not have a clear definition of a sustainable health system,” the report states.

“This makes it hard for it to know whether it has a sustainable system or whether its plan will help achieve one.”

The report revealed the Health Department and hospital and health services consulted reasonably well internally when planning but could improve their consultation with each other.

“People in the community want a system in which the various elements work together, and unnecessary duplication is reduced,” the report stated.

“This is important for HHSs that share boundaries, or when patients are referred to larger HHSs (for example, patients in regional areas being referred to HHSs in Brisbane).”

There was no statewide plan for orthopaedics, for ear, nose and throat or for ophthalmology - services that were among the top 20 conditions for patients admitted in 2019-20.

The department planned to develop statewide action plans for these services in 2021.

Without statewide plans, there was a risk planning by hospital and health services could be fragmented, and lead to different care in different areas of Queensland.

Queensland Health also needed to improve its approach to deciding which of its growing and ageing assets, including hospitals, equipment and software, to fix first.

Ms D’Ath said Queensland Health was committed to planning for sustainable health services, including workforce planning, and would implement the report’s recommendations.

Hospital and health services were formed in 2012 under the Campbell Newman-led LNP government.

Queensland Health has a budget of $19.2 billion, with 90,000 full-time staff, 120 hospitals and 1.6 million hospital stays in 2019-20.