Although hospitals across the Northern NSW Local Health District NNSWLHD are battling to have full staffing levels, the planned surgery wait list was reduced by more than 50 per-cent over winter as patient presentations increased by more than 2 per-cent compared to 2022.
According to the latest Bureau of Health Information Healthcare Quarterly report there were 3,770 planned surgeries during the winter quarter, with the majority of planned surgeries and 95.5 per-cent of unplanned surgeries performed on time.
Northern NSW Local Health District’s Chief Executive, Tracey Maisey, said the results were a reflection of the continued hard work of staff across the District during the July to September quarter in 2023.
“There were 54,204 attendances to NNSWLHD EDs, an increase of 2.1 per cent, or 1,134, more attendances than for the same quarter in 2022,” she said.
“There were also increases in presentations across all triage categories.
“More than seven in 10 patients (75.3 per cent) started treatment on time and eight in 10 patients (80.1 per cent) were transferred from ambulance to ED staff within the 30-minute benchmark, which are both better results than the NSW state average.”
Over the past year, NNSWLHD reduced the number of patients waiting longer than clinically recommended for planned surgery by 55.1 per-cent, from 1580 in September 2022 to 709 in September 2023.
In the Clarence Valley, Grafton Base Hospital had 6,732 Emergency Department ED attendances during this quarter.
The majority of patients started treatment on time and more than seven in 10 patients (70.7 per cent) left the ED within four hours.
More than eight in 10 patients (83 per cent) were transferred from ambulance to ED staff within the 30-minute benchmark.
While Maclean District Hospital had 3,790 attendances to the ED during the quarter.
More than eight in 10 patients (82.8 per cent) started their treatment on time.
Almost nine in 10 (88.7 per cent) of patients left the ED within four hours.
Nine in 10 patients were transferred from ambulance to ED staff within the 30-minute benchmark.