Waiting too long: Less than 50 per cent of patients at Westmead Hospital and Blacktown Hospital are being treated within four hours Photo: Joseph Fell
Fewer than half the patients in some western Sydney hospitals are being treated within four hours, the latest hospital quarterly data shows.
Only 45 per cent of patients at Westmead Hospital and 47 per cent of patients at Blacktown Hospital are being treated within four hours, while the figure is below 60 per cent at Mt Druitt, Campbelltown and Nepean.
The Bureau of Health Information report released on Thursday found that across NSW, 69 per cent of patients were discharged within four hours.
Median waiting times at Sydney hospitals.
This represented an improvement of three percentage points against the July to September quarter in 2013, but well below the target of 81 per cent.
Emergency specialist Sally McCarthy said there had been huge improvements in treatment times in most hospitals as a result of NSW Health’s Whole of Hospital Program.
“But we’ve still got a way to go,” Dr McCarthy said.
Previously, patients might have been held up in the emergency department for hours while beds were available in other parts of the hospital, but cleaning processes were so poorly co-ordinated that the cleaners were unaware they needed to be prepared.
Other patients were held up waiting for scans to be completed because the imaging centres were booked up and had not left space for patients from the ED.
“The ultimate aim is for 90 per cent of patients to depart the ED within four hours,” Dr McCarthy said.
“The target is achievable, but it does mean that hospitals and health services really have to look at what they’re doing and innovate.”
The report also found that elective surgery patients were waiting 54 days longer for non-urgent operations than they did five years ago.
The median waiting time for non-urgent elective surgery rose from 162 days in the July to September quarter in 2009 to 216 days for the same period in 2014.
But the number of people waiting for more than 12 months for non-urgent surgery fell from 713 patients in 2009 to 215 in 2014.
The median wait time for urgent surgery was unchanged at 10 days.
Patients waiting longest for elective surgery were most likely to be having a cataract extraction, tonsillectomy or a knee replacement.
Royal Australasian College of Surgeons NSW chair Mary Langcake said hospitals were on track to meet their targets for performing elective surgery within the recommended timeframes as a result of work by the Surgical Services Taskforce.
The NSW target is for urgent surgery to be completed within 30 days, semi-urgent surgery to be completed within 90 days and non-urgent surgery to be completed within 365 days.
“In 2005 the waiting lists were really out of control,” Dr Langcake said.
“We’ve been able to look at efficiencies within theatres themselves, things like pre-admission treatments.
“We’ve been able to recognise that clearly if somebody has a condition that has the potential to escalate, then they’re a clear priority.”
Health Minister Jillian Skinner said the report showed that health outcomes in NSW were improving.
“Patients right across NSW are receiving quality, timely care as a result of the fantastic work being done in our hospitals,” Mrs Skinner said.
Some hospitals had made big improvements, including 63 per cent of emergency patients at Bankstown Lidcombe Hospital being treated within four hours – up 16 per cent from the same time last year – and 79 per cent of patients at Blue Mountains Hospital, up 15 per cent, Ms Skinner said.