There are almost 1000 people in Queensland’s hospitals with either COVID-19 or the Influenza A, as the state’s winter surge takes hold.

Health authorities are urging people to get their boosters and mask up.

President of the Australian Medical Association of Queensland, Dr Maria Boulton, toured a number of emergency departments recently and painted a disturbing picture.

“I was at an emergency department a few weeks ago, and what I was seeing, I saw stretchers on the corridors with people waiting to be admitted into emergency and paramedics waiting with them until  they were admitted,” she told Neil Breen on Brisbane Live.

“I saw ambulances waiting outside ramped, waiting for their patients to come into the hospital.

“I saw patients who had been in emergency for at least 23 hours waiting for a bed in the hospital.

“The emergency departments are over-run.”

She says they need to “move heaven and earth” to get more staff.

Press PLAY below to hear her paint the picture of overstretched, under pressure hospitals