An investigation into hospital waiting times by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) has found them to be increasing for elective surgery and emergency department care.
The Institute’s studies found the median waiting time for elective surgery in 2017-18 had risen since 2013-14.
“It was 36 days in 2013-14, 37 days in 2015-16, and 40 days in 2017-18,” the report said.
Group Head of the Hospitals and Expenditure Group at the AIHW, Adrian Webster said that in 2017-18 across the States and Territories, the median waiting time for elective surgery ranged from 23 days in the Northern Territory to 55 days in NSW.
“The proportion of patients who waited longer than 365 days to be admitted for their procedure slightly increased from 1.7 per cent in 2016-17 to 1.8 per cent in 2017-18, but remains lower than five years ago in 2013-14, when the proportion was 2.4 per cent,” Dr Webster said.
He said waiting times also varied depending on the type of surgical procedure.
“In 2017-18, the longest median wait was for Septoplasty (surgery for a deviated nasal septum) at 248 days, compared with 17 days for coronary artery bypass graft surgery.”
He said the AIHW found there were more than eight million presentations to public hospital emergency departments in 2017-18, an average of about 22,000 each day.
Between 2013-14 and 2017-18, this had increased by 2.7 per cent each year on average.
“The report also shows a rise in waiting times for emergency department care in Australia,” Dr Webster said.
“In 2017-18, 72 per cent of people presenting to emergency departments were seen ‘on time’ for their urgency (triage) category, a decrease from 75 per cent in 2013-14.
“This varied across the States and Territories, ranging from 49 per cent of patients seen ‘on time’ in the ACT to 80 per cent in NSW.”
The AIHW’s 65-page report can be accessed at this PS News link.
