Emergency patients left high and dry

July 25th, 2013

Half of the hospitals in Australia recorded an improvement in the time it took them to treat emergency patients but some went backwards.
Source: News Limited

FEWER than one in four hospitals were meeting their targets for treating emergency patients within four hours in the first three months of this year.

Queensland’s hospitals were the best emergency performers with 11 of their 24 large emergency departments meeting targets for treating 77 per cent of patients within four hours.

But in NSW just nine of the 44 large emergency departments met their target of treating 71 per cent of patients in four hours in the first three months of this year.

New figures released by the National Health Performance Authority show that in Victoria only 6 of 28 hospitals met the target of treating 75 per cent of patients in four hours.

Only one of six South Australian hospitals met its target of treating 75 per cent of patients in four hours.

In the ACT neither of the two public hospitals met their target of seeing 65 per cent of patients within four hours.

Neither of the two large emergency departments in the Northern Territory met their target of seeing 75% patients in four hours.

In Western Australia six of the 12 large emergency departments in the state reported a decline in performance of more than five percentage points.

Only three hospitals in Western Australia met the target of treating 81 per cent of patients within four hours.

In Tasmania only one of four hospitals was meeting its target of treating 78 per cent of patients within four hours.

Half of the hospitals around Australia recorded an improvement in the time it took them to treat emergency patients but some went backwards.

The hospital with the biggest single improvement in emergency performance was Princess Alexandra Hospital in Queensland.

In the first three months of 2012 this hospital saw a paltry 33 per cent of patients within the target time, the worst rate in the nation.

The shamed hospital picked up its game and it is now seeing 62 per cent of patients within four hours, although it is still shy of the state target of 77 patients within four hours.

The states signed up to the four hour emergency targets in 2011 in return for receiving extra Commonwealth Hospital funding.

By 2015 they have pledged to treat 90 per cent of patients within four hours.

NHPA chief Dr Diane Watson said having evidence about their performance empowered hospitals to see which hospitals were making the biggest improvements.

“It can be difficult to know what is possible if you don’t know how you compare to your peers,” she said.

Other data released today shows some hospitals are failing to deliver elective surgery on time to patients rated as “urgent”.

These patients must be treated within 30 days of going onto a waiting list but one major regional hospital was treating just 56 per cent of patients on time.

Among major metropolitan hospitals as few as 81 per cent of patients were getting their surgery on time while some hospitals managed to treat 100 per cent of patients within the target period.

NSW hospitals meeting target for treating patients within four hours Jan – Mar 2013

Manning Hospital

Fairfield Hospital

Auburn Hospital

The Tweed Hospital

Ryde Hospital

Manly Hospital

Belmont Hospital

Broken Hill Hospital

Kempsey Hospital

Victorian hospitals meeting target for treating patients within four hours Jan – Mar 2013

The Alfred