Lismore Hospital is the most ‘under pressure’ hospital outside Sydney, Wollongong and Newcastle, says opposition health spokesperson Walt Secord, with 32.9 per cent of patients waiting longer than four hours.
This compares to 16 per cent for Byron Central Hospital, 16.6 per cent for The Tweed Hospital and 23.6 per cent for Ballina Hospital.
According to independent data from the Bureau of Health Information (BHI), for the October-December, 8,877 patients presented to the emergency department and 295 babies were born.
The median wait time at Lismore for non-urgent elective surgery was 326 days with 329 days for cataract removal, 329 days for total hip replacement and 335 days for total knee replacement surgery.
Furthermore, 10 per cent of patients waited more than eight hours and 27 minutes in the emergency department.
Shadow Health Minister Walt Secord said the data showed ‘a health and hospital system under enormous pressure, buckling under lengthy waits and increased demand.’
‘The NSW health and hospital system continues to be under growing pressure with long waits in emergency departments and long waits for elective surgery,’ he said.
‘The elective surgery lists are now the longest ever, with more than 76,000 patients waiting for elective surgery,’ he added.
‘There are now thousands of elderly patients waiting for cataract surgery and knee and hip replacements.
‘Unfortunately, every figure is an individual’s different tale of pain and suffering: Patients unable to drive because they cannot get a cataract operation or an elderly person unable to walk with their grandchildren in a park because they cannot get a hip or knee replacement.
‘Sadly, patients wait at every stage in NSW; they wait for an ambulance; they wait in an emergency department; they wait for a hospital bed; and when they finally get a bed, they are rushed out of the hospital, risking re-admission due to infection,’ Mr Secord said.
Highest numbers in emergency
A massive 680,126 patients presented to emergency departments – the highest ever for an October to December quarter – up 2.1 per cent compared with the same quarter in 2016. This was an increase of 22.7 per cent over the past five years.
It also showed that 151,235 patients arrived by ambulance – an increase of 3.1 per cent. In relation to ambulance response times: P1 Emergency – median wait was 37 minutes. This is up from 35.5 minutes.
Furthermore, 26.4 per cent of patients spent four hours or more in the state’s emergency departments. This is an increase from 25.6 per cent in the same quarter in 2016.
Overall, the median time in an emergency department increased to two hours and 44 minutes – from two hours 40 minutes – in the same quarter in 2016.
There was a 10 per cent increase in patients waiting for urgent surgery up to 921 in 2017 quarter from 834 in 2016. In addition, 24 per cent of patients who had elective surgery had their procedures start later than planned.
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