Emergency departments are under pressure but there are promising signs for elective surgery waitlists recovering. Photo: ISLHD.
Almost half of patients who attended Wollongong Hospital’s emergency department between July and September this year did not start treatment on time, with a new report revealing some of the poorest results for the department in more than a decade.
The performance of hospitals across the region are in the spotlight in the Bureau of Health Information’s (BHI) latest quarterly report, released on 11 December.
Wollongong Hospital Emergency Department (ED) performed worse than any other hospital in the district and below average for other hospitals in the same peer group across the state for patients starting their treatment on time, with more people waiting across all areas from emergency to non-urgent care.
50.7 per cent of patients in the ED started treatment on time, which is a drop of 16.2 percentage points on the same time last year and the lowest the hospital has reported since BHI recording began in April 2010.
Only 36.4 per cent of patients in the ’emergency’ triage category, which are categorised according to NSW Health as having an imminently life-threatening condition were seen within the recommended 10 minutes to receive treatment. This was 13.5 per cent lower than July to September in 2023.
48.7 per cent of those in the ‘urgent’ category, 58.9 per cent in ‘semi-urgent’ and 82.4 per cent in ‘non-urgent’ started treatment on time, which is the lowest percentage of patients across all categories since 2012.
Illawarra Shoalhaven Local Health District (ISLHD) Executive Director Clinical Operations, Margaret Martin said emergency departments across the region experienced significant demand during this quarter which included the busy winter period.
“There were high numbers of seriously unwell patients presenting to ED, including 5800 triage category two (emergency) presentations – the second highest number of patients in this category since BHI began reporting,” Ms Martin said.
“All patients are seen and triaged on arrival at the ED and the most seriously unwell patients are treated first.
“During busy times, people with less urgent conditions can experience longer wait times when there are large numbers of seriously unwell patients being prioritised for emergency care.”
For those who do have to wait, patient experience officers are employed to make the process easier.
“There are currently two full-time equivalent (FTE) patient experience officers at Wollongong Hospital,” Ms Martin said.
“Patient experience officers provide additional support in emergency departments (EDs) to patients, carers and their families.
“They can provide advice and information on ED processes and waiting times to patients and their carers to help reduce stress and anxiety.”
ISLHD is focusing on new models of care and initiatives to improve access and flow within hospitals such as enhancing care provided virtually, dedicated models for older patients including Transitional Aged Care Program beds and Aged Care Outreach Service, providing allied health ED navigator roles and promoting the use of Urgent Care Services, such as those at Bulli Hospital for minor injury and illness.
The NSW Government is also rolling out its comprehensive ED relief package including additional virtual care services, more investment in urgent care centres, expansion of emergency short stay units, an ambulance matrix to provide real-time hospital data to paramedics, increase of Hospital in the Home and improved patient flow and discharge support.
“The NSW Government is playing our part by making significant investments in both alleviating pressure on our EDs as well as creating alternative pathways to care outside of the hospital,” NSW Health Minister Ryan Park said.
Minister Park attributed much of the demand on emergency departments statewide to the lack of availability of general practitioners and patients able to explore other treatment avenues.
“The impact of the federal Liberals’ and Nationals’ freeze on the Medicare rebate will be felt for some time to come and won’t be undone overnight,” Minister Park said.
“The reality is however, the Commonwealth’s GP shortage crisis is placing severe pressure on our hospitals as people have little choice but to present to our EDs for non-emergency conditions.”
The report did show some positive outcomes in our health system with elective surgery performance showing promise of returning to pre-pandemic levels.
ISLHD performed 3541 surgeries during the quarter, with 87.1 per cent of planned elective procedures performed on time which is the highest since 2019.
“An increase of 3.6 per cent, or 123 more surgeries when compared with the same quarter last year,” Ms Martin said. “There were 1339 semi-urgent surgical procedures performed during the quarter, an increase of 15.7 per cent on the same quarter in 2023 and the most ever performed by ISLHD during a quarter since the BHI started its reporting in 2010.
“Almost every urgent planned surgery (99.6 per cent) was performed on time.”
Ms Martin said staff across all health services continued to show ongoing dedication to providing high quality and safe care to patients and the district continued to implement strategies to improve the overall surgical waitlist and enable more patients to receive their surgery sooner.
Original Article published by Keeli Royle on Region Illawarra.
