Emergency wait times blow out
Increasing demand on the West Gippsland Hospital’s emergency department has increased waiting times and reduced the number of patients being treated within targets.
But, a blitz on elective surgery over the past 12 months has paid off, with the hospital slashing waiting lists.
Latest performance data released for the April to June quarter showed the West Gippsland Hospital was feeling the pinch of increasing demand, particularly in emergency.
The figures showed that overall, 76 per cent of emergency department patients were treated within the required time targets, compared to 83 per cent for the previous year.
Wait times in emergency also increased with the median time increasing from 19 minutes in 2015/16 to 23 minutes in 2016/17.
More than 22,000 people presented at the hospital’s emergency department for the 2016/17 year and almost 30,000 patients required hospital bed stays.
West Gippsland Healthcare Group chief executive officer Dan Weeks said the data reflected the pressure of more patients presenting at emergency.
He said the data could “vary up and down” between quarters, but they were well aware of the extra demand and pressures on emergency.
“We are at 22,000 presentations (in emergency) this year so the data is a reflection of that growth,” he said.
Mr Weeks said the number of patients who stayed in emergency had dropped significantly since the start of this year.
He said because of the focus on those 24 hour stays, other areas within emergency had suffered.
The hospital received $3.3 million earlier this year to develop an eight-bed short stay unit as an extension to the emergency department.
Mr Weeks said once built, these units would help alleviate the pressure on beds for patients staying less than 24 hours.
“That will increase our capacity. There has been growth in the ED but there is also growth on the ward so if there isn’t a bed, it creates problems in other areas.
“There is a big focus on clearing people who don’t need to be in hospital and helping them to get home within four hours,”
Additional funding last year helped to alleviate pressure on elective surgery waiting lists which Mr Weeks said was an incredible result.
Data showed the number of category one patients on the waiting list at the end of June 2017 was half that of the previous year, dropping from 18 to nine.
There were 173 (49 less) category two patients waiting surgery and 156 category three patients (50 less).
The median time of patients waiting elective surgery was reduced from 35 days at the end of June last year to 24 days this year.
Mr Weeks said growth funding for the 2016/17 year enabled the hospital to perform more surgeries and slash waiting lists.
“It’s helped us hugely. It’s year to year funding and that makes the biggest difference to our elective surgery.
“We are still in discussions with the department to agree on our throughput and therefore our waiting lists for this year,” he said.
Mr Weeks said a third theatre, that received $6 million earlier this year, was currently in the design stage and also would help to reduce surgery lists.
The performance data showed the hospital treated 58 more patients during the April to June quarter compared to the same period last year, while emergency admissions were 98 more.
The April to June data showed: 5546 emergency department presentations, taking the 2016/17 total to 22,018.
1558 patients admitted for same day treatment.
7663 patients required hospital bed stays, taking the total for 2016/17 to 29,794.
244 babies were admitted to the neonatal/special care nursery for the 12 month period.
Compared to the previous 12 month period, the treatment time for category one, two and three emergency patients increased from 13 minutes to 16 minutes; and times for category four and five patients increased from 27 minutes to 31 minutes.
The number of category two emergency patients treated within 10 minutes dropped from 87 per cent to 75 per cent.
The median ambulance transfer time improved from 16 minutes to 15 minutes.
Mr Weeks said ambulance clearance rates varied between 86 per cent and 96 per cent throughout the year.