2 weeks Ago By Damon Cronshaw
John Hunter Hospital's emergency department has recorded the worst result on record for the time to start treatment of patients with "imminently life-threatening conditions". Login or signup to continue reading NSW Health benchmarks require hospital staff to start treatment of patients in this emergency category within 10 minutes of arrival. Bureau of Health Information [BHI] data, released on Wednesday, showed the median time for this category was 14 minutes in the July to September quarter.
One in 10 patients in this category waited an hour for treatment, also the worst result on record. The median times to start treatment of urgent (38 minutes) and semi-urgent (57 minutes) patients were also the worst results on record. A Hunter New England Health spokesperson said the quarter was "another tough winter season when we saw high numbers of respiratory illnesses circulating".
"We thank our communities for their patience and sincerely apologise to anyone who has experienced an extended wait time." Nurses union general secretary Shaye Candish said EDs were "treating more seriously ill patients than ever before". "Members are dealing with extremely testing conditions, often working chronically understaffed," said Ms Candish, of the NSW Nurses and Midwives' Association.
"Severe pressures on our EDs cannot be primarily attributed to the GP shortage." Dr Rebekah Hoffman, the Royal Australian College of GPs NSW chairperson, said there was an "urgent need for government to do more to ensure everyone can access affordable GP care". "It's deeply frustrating to see governments continuing to pour billions into hospitals when we know the best investment is funding preventive care and management of chronic conditions by GPs," Dr Hoffman said.
The BHI data showed 5941 "P1 emergency cases" for paramedics in Newcastle - the highest on record. This refers to paramedics responding to potentially life-threatening cases. About 50 per cent of ambulances met the benchmark for responding to these cases within 15 minutes.
Australian Paramedics Association NSW secretary Brendan McIlveen said "the numbers show the cracks in the system are widening". " Paramedics are doing everything they can, but every delay is not just a statistic, it's a patient waiting in pain and a paramedic pushed to their limit," Mr McIlveen said. The BHI data also showed 6703 patient arrivals to John Hunter by ambulance in the July to September quarter.
This was the second-highest number on record. The median time to transfer patients from paramedics to ED staff at John Hunter was 18 minutes, the second-worst result on record. One in 10 patients in this category waited one hour and 35 minutes - the third-worst result on record behind the last two quarters.
Mr McIlveen said paramedics were "stuck waiting with patients outside overcrowded EDs, unable to respond to new emergencies in the community". "It's a vicious cycle that leaves everyone worse off." He said paramedics were too often being "forced to take lower-priority cases to hospital while critical emergencies are delayed".
"A review of the triage system is essential to ensure the right care reaches the right patient at the right time." Hunter New England Health's spokesperson said "all patients are seen and triaged upon arrival to the emergency department, with the most critically ill patients treated first". Health and medicine, science, research, nutrition.
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