Latest BHI report shows hospitals still struggling

The Healthcare Quarterly report shows activity and performance for NSW public health services during April to June 2023.

The report shows 2595 people arrived at the Tamworth hospital Emergency Department (ED) by ambulance, only slightly down on the previous quarter, and there were 10,844 emergency presentations, which resulted in 2395 admissions to hospital - 24 fewer than January to March, but 66 more than for the same period in 2022.

Overall just 53.3 per cent of treatments were started on time, compared to 58 per cent for the same period in 2022, and 58.2 per cent for the January to March quarter.

Of the arrivals, 50.9 per cent of patients were able to leave the ED within four hours of presentation compared to 54.8 per cent in the previous quarter.

The median time for a patient to be in the ED was 3 hours and 57 minutes. But some patients spent more than 11 hours in emergency before leaving.

Tamworth hospital performed 872 elective surgeries, compared to 836 for the same period last year, and 808 during January to March, 2023.

There were still 1848 patients on the waiting list at the end of the quarter, including 48 who were considered to be urgent, 175 semi-urgent, and 1625 non-urgent.

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On average people were waiting 16 days for urgent surgery, 43 days for semi-urgent surgery and 349 days for non-urgent procedures, while 79.3 per cent of surgeries were being performed on time.

From April to June 2023, 299 babies were born at Tamworth hospital. In the previous quarter 262 babies were born at the hospital.

BHI chief executive Dr Diane Watson said the latest quarterly results demonstrated NSW public health services continued to experience high demand in the second quarter of this year.

"In April to June 2023, ambulance response times improved from the record long waits the same time one year ago," Dr Watson said.

"The number of elective surgery patients on the waiting list who had waited longer than recommended also halved."

There were 357,491 ambulance responses state-wide, the highest of any quarter since BHI began reporting in 2010.

Generally speaking, 65.8 per cent of all ED patients had their treatment start on time - up slightly on 62.8 per cent in the same quarter last year. However, just 56.7 per cent of patients left the ED within four hours - compared with 57.6 per cent a year earlier.

Gunnedah Hospital received 242 patients by ambulance in the period from April to June 2023 (seven fewer than the previous quarter), with a total attendance of 1953, including 1729 emergency presentations (48 fewer than January to March), resulting in 49 people being admitted to the hospital, compared to 31 in the previous quarter.

In good news for patients, 82 per cent of people had their treatment started on time, up from 80.9 per cent in the January to March quarter, but down on the same period last year when 99.4 per cent of treatments were started on time.

When it came time to leave, 82.9 per cent of patients were able to depart the hospital within four hours, while the median time was 1 hour 35 minutes.

Surgeons performed 15 elective surgeries at the hospital in the three month period, five of them were urgent, 10 were semi-urgent and fewer than five were non-urgent.

There were five people on the waiting list ready for surgery at the end of the quarter.

There were 10 babies born at Gunnedah Hospital in the April to June quarter, compared to seven during the first quarter of the year.

Chief Executive for Hunter New England Local Health District (HNELHD) Tracey McCosker said it had been a "challenging start to the winter season".

"Our teams have been faced with a high volume of patients, with 111,942 attendances to our EDs, including a record number of people who were sicker and required more complex care," Ms McCosker said.

"I'd also like to recognise our smaller, regional facilities including Gunnedah, Inverell, Kurri Kurri and Narrabri who continue to outperform their state peers, seeing their patients sooner."

Ms McCosker said throughout the quarter, there were 14,805 presentations by those with an imminently life-threatening condition (triage category 2).

"This is the highest number of patients in this category in any quarter since BHI began reporting," she said.

To assist in improving flow through hospitals, the District's Patient Flow Unit began trialling a 24/7 operation for a six-month period.

"This change will mean patients can be transferred at all times, not just within business hours, assisting with capacity management to ensure better flow of patients through our facilities," Ms McCosker said.

"We continue to remind everyone to support us by saving emergency departments and ambulances for saving lives. If an illness or injury is not serious or life-threatening, we encourage people to call Healthdirect Australia on 1800 022 222, for a 24-hour telephone health advice."

Minister for Health and Minister for Regional Health Ryan Park said the latest figures generally showed signs of improvement as NSW public hospitals continued to face major pressures.

He said the latest BHI data demonstrated continuing high levels of demand for emergency care, including record NSW Ambulance activity.

"Throughout the second quarter of 2023, there were 117,949 triage category 2 (emergency) presentations to NSW public hospitals, the highest number on record," Mr Park said.

"Despite the increase in more complex presentations, the majority of patients, 65.8 per cent, started their treatment on time, an improvement on the same quarter last year."

Across the state, the number of surgical patients waiting longer than clinically recommended has decreased from 14,067 to 9,142 between the end of March and the end of June.

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