At first glance, it seems satisfactory that Maitland Hospital is meeting the benchmark emergency department waiting time target at a similar rate to the state average.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
But the government should try to do better than that.
According to the latest Bureau of Health Information data, 68 per cent of patients who presented to Maitland emergency department between April and June left the ED within the government’s benchmark four-hour timeframe.
This result seems respectable when compared to the state average (70 per cent) and the rate at John Hunter Hospital (63 per cent).
However, it still means that almost a third of the 11,396 patients who attended Maitland ED spent longer than four hours there.
By no means is the Mercury criticising any of the hard-working staff at Maitland Hospital.
The figures simply highlight the need for the government to get on with work to build the Lower Hunter hospital at Metford and relieve pressure on the region’s health facilities.
While the government was happy to grab the spotlight and make minor announcements about the proposed hospital in the lead-up to the state election earlier this year, it has been astoundingly quiet since then about when it would begin building the facility.
Health Minister Jillian Skinner said emergency departments across the state had experienced unprecedented demand during winter.
That may be the case elsewhere, but not so in Maitland, where the ED had about 200 more patients through its doors during the same three months in 2014.
It’s not bad that Maitland ED is hovering around the state average for meeting the benchmark, but it’s not good.
It shows that the government needs to deliver the hospital it promised sooner rather than later.
