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22 December 2005 October performance data shows steady improvement
Performance data for the State's public hospital system for October 2005 shows that waiting lists are down while attendances and admissions have continued to grow, a spokesperson for NSW Health said today. At October 31, 2005 the booked surgical waiting list stood at 58,858 - a decrease of 10 per cent or 6,454 cases since October 2004. The long wait list also dropped to 4,757 having more than halved from 9,802 in October 2004. Of 134,714 people who attended emergency departments during October, more than 31,100 required admission for further care. Almost one in four patients who come through the doors of an emergency department required admission. This is an increase of 7.3 per cent in attendances compared to October 2004 and an 8.4 per cent increase in the number of admissions. With such an influx of seriously ill people, the State's hospital system has successfully been improving its performance in dealing with sicker patients who attend emergency departments. October 2005 data shows 100% of all immediately life-threatening cases were seen straight away. Off-stretcher time also recorded a 7 per cent improvement over October last year with 77 per cent of all patients brought to emergency departments via ambulance transferred to hospital beds within 30 minutes of arrival. The percentage of patients who wait longer than eight hours for transfer from the emergency department to the ward has fallen from 29 per cent to 25 per cent in October 2005. The quality of care has always been, and remains, high. What has changed is the speed of access for the majority of patients, the spokesperson said. NSW Health is investing up to $17 million to assist public hospitals to develop new models of care to address the issue of emergency department waiting times. Dollars will go towards more short stay wards and "fast track" zones for patients who have minor complaints. These changes are currently being implemented and showing steady improvement in results. Importantly, these changes will lead to long-term improvements in dealing with those people who require less urgent care in our hospitals. Improvement in urgent triage treatment times have been recorded in a number of hospitals, including:
Triage 2 = imminently life threatening cases to be seen within 10 minutes The health system is also turning its attention to the waiting time of less urgent patients including those in triage categories 3 & 4. In October, Triage 3 performance was 61% and Triage 4 was 65%. These results are an improvement on the previous month. Treatment times in other the less urgent categories have shown improvement across the State, but most significantly in these hospitals:
Triage 5 = less urgent cases to be seen within 2 hours ACTIVITY SNAPSHOT - IN OCTOBER 2005 …
For a range of health information, go online to www.health.nsw.gov.au |
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