The latest Bureau of Health Information quarterly report was unveiled today, which pointed to a better effort from some areas in our hospitals, but making it clear there’s plenty of room for improvement.
The response from the government and the opposition was a mixture of political spin and some willingness to face the fact that with population levels surging these health challenges are more likely to get worse than better.
On a local level, the proportion of triage 2 patients with life threatening conditions being treated on time at the emergency department of Campbelltown Hospital improved by more than a half (from 36.8 percent of patients three years ago up to 59.5 percent.
This was one of the highest rates of improvement among hospitals across the state.
There was also improvement across the South West Sydney health district generally – the proportion of T2 patients treated on time went up from 50.7 percent three years ago to 57 per cent in the latest quarter.
The numbers showed NSW public hospitals recorded improvements in ED performance, surgery wait times and fewer semi-urgent and non-urgent presentations.
At the end of the quarter, the number of patients who had waited longer than clinically recommended for their surgery was 3,845, down from 17,070 compared to three years ago.
However, the gains have been offset by a surge in the number of Commonwealth patients stranded in NSW hospitals waiting for commonwealth aged care or NDIS placements.
The number of stranded patients in South West Sydney has increased by over 50 per cent, with the number of stranded patients at Liverpool Hospital more than tripling.
“Our hospitals continue to show signs of progress and improvement in terms of ED and surgery wait times, which has coincided with our investments in more hospitals, more staff, and more pathways to care outside of the hospital,’’ said minister for health Ryan Park.
“We’re focused on saving our EDs for the patients who need it most while sparing people who don’t require emergency care an unnecessary wait.’’
The Bureau of Health Information (BHI) Healthcare Quarterly report shows patient treatment waiting (and waiting… and waiting) times have blown out in emergency departments across NSW, said the NSW Opposition Leader Kelly Sloane.
Ms Sloane said a record number of patients walked out without starting or finishing treatment in an emergency department, almost 80,000 people – a rise of 16 percent in a year.
“Alarmingly, almost 35 percent of those were in triage category 3 and in need of urgent care for potentially life-threatening conditions.
“When nearly 80,000 patients are walking out of hospital without care that shows something is going seriously wrong in our health system,” Ms Sloane said.