Almost a third of patients who presented to Maitland Hospital’s emergency department from April to June did not leave within the state government’s benchmark timeframe, new figures show.
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According to the Bureau of Health Information quarterly report, released on Tuesday, 68 per cent of the 11,396 patients who presented to Maitland’s emergency department left within four hours.
Sixty-three per cent of patients at John Hunter Hospital’s emergency department left within the benchmark time, while Cessnock Hospital recorded a rate of 88 per cent and Gosford registered 62 per cent.
Maitland Hospital’s figures were stable compared to the January to March quarter, but were slightly below the 70 per cent state average.
Maitland MP Jenny Aitchison said the results showed how much the region needed the government to begin construction on the proposed Lower Hunter hospital at Metford.
She said the new hospital would also take pressure off the emergency department at John Hunter Hospital.
But the government has not announced when construction of the facility will begin.
“It’s an appalling statistic for our community,” Ms Aitchison said.
“It goes to the heart of my repeated requests to the minister to start [building] that hospital.
“The reality is that [the government] has to build the new hospital to cope with the increase in population in the Hunter.
“They’ve got to start to build it otherwise how could they say to the community that they have a focus on regional health?”
A much higher rate of patients left the emergency departments at Cessnock and Singleton hospitals within the target timeframe – 88 per cent and 93 per cent respectively.
But those hospitals had fewer presentations to their EDs during the quarter, with about 3000 to Singleton and 4000 to Cessnock, compared with about 11,000 at Maitland and about 18,000 at John Hunter.
Health Minister Jillian Skinner said the state’s hospitals faced unprecedented demand during the winter quarter.
“Emergency presentations have increased by 25 per cent over the past five years [across NSW],” she said.
“In this last quarter, 28 hospitals across the state experienced an increase of more than five per cent.
“On average, 1600 more patients are arriving in emergency departments every week, compared to the same period of time in 2014.
“Despite increased demand, our hospitals continue to perform at a high standard, with 70 per cent of patients leaving emergency departments within four hours – one per cent down since the same quarter last year.”
Benchmarks
Proportion of patients who left the emergency department within the four-hour benchmark between April and June, 2015:
- Maitland Hospital: 68 per cent
- John Hunter Hospital: 63 per cent
- Cessnock District Hospital: 88 per cent
- Singleton District Hospital: 93 per cent
- Gosford Hospital: 62 per cent
- Manning Base Hospital: 77 per cent
- Muswellbrook District Hospital: 87 per cent
