Tamworth hospital data in Australian Institute of Health and Welfare report shows alarming trends

The number of emergency presentations in 2021-2022 jumped nearly 37 per cent on 2019-20's figures.

AIHW released the data in its latest update of the "My Hospitals" series.

It showed that after six years of holding steady, Tamworth hospital has experienced an alarming trend across the three pandemic years, reaching 5239 presentations to the emergency department in the 10-minute treatment category in 2021-22 from just 3825 presentations in 2018-19.

Hunter New England health declined to comment on any of the data.

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The rise in emergency patients directly correlates to a fall in the proportion of patients who were seen within the recommended time, which fell from 73 per cent in 2018-19 to 62 per cent in 2021-22

That proportion is six percentage points lower than the average for similar hospitals.

Speaking on the Hunter New England health system as a whole, Australian Medical Association NSW president Dr Michael Bonning previously told ACM "there has been growing pressure on emergency departments".

The median time spent in Tamworth hospital is 3 hours and 40 minutes.

Meanwhile, presentations to Tamworth hospital's emergency department in the other four categories (treatment within two minutes, 30 minutes, one hour, and two hours) have been largely stable across the same three-year period.

Other medical centres in the region have also held steady in terms of emergency presentations over the past three years.

The data shows Gunnedah and Narrabri hospitals seeing an overall increasing trend in emergency presentations over the past 10 years, but with significant movement in both directions year-on-year.

Manilla hospital also stands out, posting an overall decline in emergency presentations across the most dire treatment categories while also experiencing a huge influx of non-urgent patients.

Almost 88 per cent of patients presenting to Manilla hospital's emergency department were classified as 'non-urgent' or 'semi-urgent' in 2021-22.

Dr Bonning said people with a lower socio-economic status were "more likely to visit the emergency department for the non-urgent and semi-urgent categories".

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