City ED slashes waiting times

T O WNS V I L L E H o s p i t a l ’ s emergency department has become one of the most efficient in Queensland with a recent drop in wait times bucking a statewide trend.

About 80 per cent of Townsville patients were seen within the clinically recommended time in February, which was a 4 per cent improvement on January and still well above the state average of 67 per cent, according to Queensland Health data.

Emergency department patients are categorised into five groups depending on the severity of their illness or injury with those suffering lifethreatening conditions recommended to receive care immediately and the least urgent cases to be seen within two hours.

The total median waiting time for Townsville patients in all of the groups was 15 minutes last month.

Ninety- nine per cent of Category 1 patients, who are considered the most seriously in need of care, were treated as soon as they arrived.

The least efficient was Category 3, who are classified as “potentially life- threatening,” but only 78 per cent were seen within the recommended 30 minutes.

The longest median waiting time was 21 minutes for Category 4 patients, who are considered “potentially serious” and should be treated within an hour.

Townsville was one of the only hospitals in Queensland where emergency department waiting times did not increase compared to January.

About half of patients who visited emergency departments in the state’s southeast, including Gold Coast University, Logan and Redland Hospitals, did not receive care within the recommended time.

Townsville Hospital and Health Service medical director and emergency physician Dr Niall Small said monthly performance data always varied due to fluctuations in patient demand.

“What we know over a long period is Townsville and Queensland has an excellent world- class emergency medicine system that is the envy of most,” he said.

Dr Small said the Townsville Hospital had been ranked in the top five hospitals nationally in meeting the four- hour National Emergency Access Target every year since 2013.

“This has been achieved in an environment of increased demand for our services and an ageing population, seeing more than 80,000 patients through our Emergency Department last year,” he said.

Dr Small said Townsville Hospital was a “national leader” in patient off- stretcher time with 97 per cent of people moved from an ambulance to a bed within 30 minutes.

Dr Small said the hospital was the 15th busiest of the 287 emergency departments in Australia in 2017, and staff were always working to improve response times.

“The Townsville HHS continues to look for opportunities to improve,” he said.