AFTER losing their mother following a disastrous visit to Ipswich Hospital, two sisters found themselves thrown into a complicated world of complaints, medical records, government agencies and questions they never imagined they would have to ask.
Now, Rosemary Wanless and Brooke Watson are turning that painful experience into a mission to ensure other Queensland patients and families do not have to navigate the system alone.
Queensland Hospital Watch officially became a not-for-profit on August 31, almost a year after the death of their mother, Christine White, in August 2025 after she sought emergency care.
“We were just regular people,” Ms Wanless said.
“Navigating the complaint process and everything, it was hard, but we really wanted to get answers about what was going on.”
Ms Wanless said their advocacy had helped bring about changes within the Queensland Ambulance Service, including changes relating to patient categorisation and pain scores.
Their mother’s experience will also be used as a case study in QAS training through a program called HEARD, which Ms Wanless said placed greater emphasis on listening to individual patients and understanding their circumstances.
“She’s always at the forefront of everything that we do,” Ms Wanless said.
“We can’t bring her back. But if we can make something from her experience that helps others, that is an amazing legacy.”
“We spend a lot of time asking what needs to change in healthcare, but we also started asking ourselves what we could actually do right now.”
Ms Wanless said the organisation had already received strong support from Ipswich politicians and community organisations as it developed.
State Member for Bundamba Lance McCallum said Queensland Hospital Watch was helping bring patients’ experiences into the wider conversation about healthcare.
“Queensland Hospital Watch is helping shine a light on patient experiences and advocating for meaningful improvements,” Mr McCallum said.
State Member for Ipswich West Wendy Bourne said she had met Rosemary and Brooke and was impressed by their determination to turn the loss of their mother into support for others.
“I’m proud to support their work. Every patient deserves dignity, compassion and respect, and every family deserves to know someone is listening.”
Despite Queensland Hospital Watch’s origins, Ms Wanless stressed the organisation was not a campaign against the doctors, nurses, paramedics and other frontline workers operating within the health system.
“It is not the healthcare workers’ fault that this is happening,” she said.
