St John tries to reduce pressure on hospitals:
The number of people using Palmerston North Hospital’s emergency department is still increasing despite efforts from St John to reduce pressure on hospitals.
The hospital had a 1.2 per cent increase in ED admissions compared with the previous financial year, a hospital spokesman said.
Anywhere between 110 and 160 patients a day were treated by the department, he said.
But St John says this number is lower than it could have been thanks to the introduction of its new clinical hub system that is designed to keep ambulances for emergencies.
This hub assesses whether 111 calls really are urgent and, if not, St John nurses and paramedics determine the best treatment for the patient.
St John national patient pathways manager Kris Gagliardi said more than a quarter of 111 calls were for issues such as strains and sprains, cramps or ear ache and could divert ambulance resources away from people in more urgent need. ‘‘What’s more, there are better, often faster, ways of managing these calls over the phone, finding more appropriate care, thereby freeing up ambulances to focus on the increasing number of ‘high acuity’ or life-threatening incidents.
‘‘This can also help reduce the more than 281,000 presentations to hospital emergency departments throughout New Zealand every year,’’ Gagliardi said.
For the Central region, he said more than 5000 patients were prevented from being taken to emergency departments unnecessarily, with 36.5 per cent of calls dealt with by clinicians without the need for ambulances.
‘‘In December 2017, we transported the lowest percentage of patients ever to an emergency department in the Midcentral area, 58 per cent.’’
The Midcentral District Health Board has sometimes encouraged people to first visit general practitioners or ring an 0800 number, 0800 611 116, for advice, rather than overwhelm the hospital’s ED with cases that might not be urgent.
Midcentral and the Central Primary Health Organisation ran a ‘‘1,2,3... where should I be?’’ campaign during winter last year to help people decide on the most appropriate service for them.
Pharmacists could also provide advice.
Gagliardi said factors such as flu season could push up ED admissions, but the clinical hub was helping prevent thousands of unnecessary presentations, which would have otherwise created even more pressure.
Gagliardi said St John’s service provided patients who had nonurgent illnesses and injuries with appropriate advice and treatment closer to home by having an experienced nurse or paramedic call the patient back and undertake an assessment.
Nationwide, the clinical hub appeared to make quite a difference to the number of times ambulances were needed to take people to hospital emergency departments. In the past 12 months, about 41,000 incidents, or 9.4 per cent, went through the clinical hub triage process.