Overview

• A recent case involving a five‑week delay in reporting advanced cancer alerted the health service to a broader lapse dating back to April 2023.
• Metro North Health says an internal process change created a distribution gap in which faxed reports from an external provider were not consistently sent to the requesting specialist.
• An expert clinical team is reviewing approximately 9,000 cases, prioritising surgical, cardiology, respiratory and paediatric patients, and the service says no imaging records were lost.
• Officials say Caboolture Hospital became aware of the issue in early September, public confirmation followed media questions, and the chief medical officer was briefed the day before the announcement.
• Premier David Crisafulli says the government learned of the problem a day earlier, has demanded full transparency and an independent investigation, as Patients Australia calls for accountability and as a separate Townsville test‑follow‑up failure is already under investigation.