Less urgent cases put pressure on hospitals

MORE than 40 per cent of presentations to Tasmanian hospital emergency departments last month were for non-urgent conditions, new statistics show.

The Health Department’s monthly health stats dashboard has been expanded to include emergency presentations by category.

The data published on Wednesday highlighted the increased demand on emergency departments, with 15,029 presentations during December.

The only month with a higher number of presentations was March last year with 15,337.

There were 6189 category three admissions, classed as potentially life threatening, situational urgency or severe discomfort or distress

Category four presentations numbered 5344. These are classed as potentially serious symptoms, situational urgency, significant complexity or severity, discomfort or distress

There were 869 category five presentations which are classed as less urgent, or clinical or administrative problems.

Premier and Health Minister Jeremy Rockliff said the data showed critically ill patients needing emergency care were being seen quickly, with the average wait time to be seen by a doctor in a Tasmanian ED being 26 minutes. However, there was a significant proportion of less serious presentations waiting longer.

“Last month, more than 40 per cent of presentations to the ED were category 4 or category 5, which can indicate a less urgent presentation that may be addressed with a visit to a GP or pharmacy,” Mr Rockliff said.

“We know that ED demand and pressures on our hospitals continue to increase, and we are taking a system-wide approach to improving the challenges we face with patient access and flow.”

The health dashboard showed there were tens of thousands of Tasmanians waiting for elective surgery, outpatient appointments and oral health appointments.

There were 8468 people on elective surgery waiting list.

The figure has reduced over the past year from 10,017.

Sixty-two per cent of elective surgery patients were admitted within the recommended time.

The outpatient waiting list was 56,475 and the oral health waiting list was 14,094.

The median emergency response time was 15.9 minutes, compared with 13.9 minutes the previous December.

From mid-December to early January both the Royal Hobart and Launceston General Hospitals were operating at level three of their Covid escalation plans.