Overdue planned surgery wait lists were reduced by almost 80 per-cent in hospitals across the Northern NSW Local Health District in the last quarter of 2023, while at the same time emergency departments saw record attendances.
The latest Bureau of Health Information quarterly report revealed 58,202 people presented to Northern NSW Local Health District LHD Emergency Departments EDs in the October to December 2023 quarter, a record for the LHD and a 3.2 per-cent increase, or 1,821 more patients that the same period in 2022.
Additionally, there were increases in presentations in EDs across all triage categories, plus the most ambulance arrivals on record for the quarter, 9,663.
Northern NSW LHD Director of Clinical Operations, Lynne Weir, said the results are a testament to the continued hard work of staff across the District during the busy October to December quarter in 2023.
“Across the District, there were 3,802 planned surgeries performed during the quarter, and pleasingly, the number of patients overdue for their planned procedure at end of December 2023 was reduced by 79 per cent, or 1,100 patients compared with the same quarter in 2022,” Ms Weir said.
“This is the seventh consecutive quarter of improvement in this area, which ultimately means we are providing more timely care for our patients.
“This is a fantastic result for the District and a testament to our staff, reducing in a 12-month period the number of patients waiting longer than clinically recommended for planned surgery from 1,388 at the end of December 2022 to 288 patients at the end of December 2023 is nothing short of extraordinary.”
Both Grafton Base Hospital GBH and Maclean District Hospital MDH performed admirably during the last quarter of 2023.
GBH has 7,188 ED attendances and 61.7 per-cent of patients started treatment on time, while 68.2 per-cent left the ED within four hours, and 86.1 per-cent were transferred from an ambulance to ED staff within 30 minutes.
MDH had 3,938 people present to the ED, 80.3 per-cent started treatment on time, 85.8 per-cent of patients left the ED within four hours, and 91.7 per-cent were transferred from an ambulance to ED staff within 30 minutes.