Unhealthy Emergency stats

FEWER than half of all urgent patients who attended Geelong hospital’s emergency department in a recent oneweek period were seen on time.

Only 42 per cent of patients in serious but stable conditions, such as those with wounds or abdominal pain, were seen on time — well below the target of 80 per cent.

Similarly, only 46 per cent of semi-urgent patients, such as those with broken arms or legs, were seen to on time.

Responding to the recent performance data published on the organisation’s website, Barwon Health chief medical officer Sean Jespersen said winter was a particularly busy time and there could sometimes be 20 new patients an hour for several hours.

Associate Professor Jesper- sen said staffing levels aligned accordingly with the model of care under constant review.

“Geelong’s growing population means increased numbers in each triage category, but we also see a rise in the acuity of people presenting to the ED, which means patients have complex conditions that require more time,” he said.

Figures from the recent week-long period showed only 67 per cent of people present- ing with potentially lifethreatening conditions were attended to in the prescribed time frame.

The same percentage of people were seen to on time in the non-urgent category.

Overall, the hospital missed its “seen on time” targets in four of five categories, reporting it treated all “category one” patients immediately.

“The hospital continues to strive to improve targets in the setting of a 5.4 per cent increase in ED attendances over the past 12 months,” Prof Jespersen said.

The most recent quarterly figures show 18,190 patients were treated in ED — a rise of 219 year on year.

Despite the load, the hospital saw more category two patients on time in that period than the year before and had 88 per cent of patients who arrived by ambulance trans- ferred to a cubicle within the target time of 40 minutes.

Health Minister Jill Hennessy acknowledged there was “more work to do”.

“That’s why we’ve increased funding to Barwon Health by $141.57 million since 2014-15,” Ms Hennessy said.

“We’re also building the new Barwon Health North urgent care facility and emergency department crisis hub at University Hospital.”