The Queensland Government has been accused of deceiving communities after deciding to call seven new health clinics “satellite hospitals” despite the fact they will not have EDs or wards.

The state government has promised to build seven new health services in the state’s south-east, under its $280 million Satellite Hospitals Program.

When completed, the facilities will manage minor illnesses and provide wound management, renal dialysis and chemotherapy, with the aim of reducing demand on other hospitals.

But some opposition MPs have been calling foul, saying communities have been duped by the term because they are not ‘real hospitals’.