The number of people turning up to Gunnedah Hospital’s emergency department with non-urgent or only semi-urgent health issues has fallen by almost 31 per cent and almost 20 per cent respectively.
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That’s according to the latest Bureau of Health Information report comparing July-September 2018 figures with the same quarter in 2017.
The report collates and compares data on 78 public hospitals and 18 ambulance zones across NSW.
Hunter New England Health rural and regional services director Susan Heyman said the reduction was “encouraging to see”.
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It meant people were seeking help from a GP instead for non-urgent or semi-urgent problems such as sprained ankles, earaches, small cuts or abrasions.
“[This] allows our staff to focus emergency care on those that need it the most,” Ms Heyman said.
In Gunnedah, emergency department presentations were down by more than 10 per cent overall, from 2457 last year to 2201 this year.
The number of patients whose treatment started on time for their triage category was fairly steady, at 72.1 per cent last year and 71.2 per cent this year.
The median time to treatment for emergency cases – which could include chest pains or severe burns – was five minutes, which means half of all patients were seen within five minutes; the other half waited this long or longer.
This was better than the figure across all NSW hospitals, which was eight minutes.
It was also better than most of the 25 other hospitals in its peer group, with only Inverell hospital doing better at two minutes.
The 90th percentile time to start treatment in emergency cases – which means the time by which 90 per cent of patients were seen – was down from 25 minutes last year to 23 minutes this year.
This was compared to 28 minutes across all NSW hospitals and, in Gunnedah hospital’s peer group, the highest figure of 44 minutes in Muswellbrook and the lowest of nine minutes in Narrabri.
In urgent cases – which could include moderate blood loss or dehydration – half of patients were treated within 24 minutes, up from 18 minutes last year and slightly longer than the NSW-wide figure of 21 minutes.
All elective surgeries were done on time in the July-September quarter of this year, as they were in the same period last year.
“It is pleasing to see Gunnedah Hospital continuing to provide exceptional care to our community, exceeding the state targets for both emergency treatment performance and elective surgery,” Ms Heyman said.
The number of babies born at Gunnedah Hospital was down by almost 17 per cent, at 48 births in the 2017 quarter and 40 this year.
Carolyn Millet
Based at The Northern Daily Leader, Tamworth, and Namoi Valley Independent, Gunnedah. Covering general news and features on community, council, arts, business, health, education, entertainment and rural matters.
Based at The Northern Daily Leader, Tamworth, and Namoi Valley Independent, Gunnedah. Covering general news and features on community, council, arts, business, health, education, entertainment and rural matters.
