Wait times at Hervey Bay Hospital’s emergency department halved

The median waiting times at a Queensland hospital’s emergency department have been halved according to new data.

Hervey Bay Hospital Emergency Department. Photo: Alistair Brightman

Median waiting times in the emergency department at Hervey Bay Hospital have been halved in the past year, according to the Wide Bay Hospital and Health Service.

The results were revealed after the health service recently released July to September performance data.

“Median wait times at Hervey Bay Hospital emergency department have halved in the last year,” WBHHS chief executive Debbie Carroll said.

Someone arriving at the emergency department can expect to wait an average of 16 minutes, down from a median of 32 minutes for the same period in 2022,” Ms Carroll said.

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“And more importantly, the Fraser Coast community can be assured that if they present to our emergency department with a critical illness or injury, they will be seen immediately.”

More than 10,900 patients were cared for a Hervey Bay Hospital from July to September this year.

“That’s over 900 additional patients who came through our ED doors compared to the previous year,” Ms Carroll said.

“We’re getting patients off stretchers faster, and we’re seeing them sooner.

In 2022 we transferred 54 per cent of patients off a stretcher to an ED bed in 30 minutes.

Median waiting times in the emergency department at Hervey Bay Hospital have been halved in the past year, according to the Wide Bay Hospital and Health Service.

“This September we’d increased that to 61 per cent.

“We’ve also recruited 37 new doctors to Hervey Bay Hospital in the last quarter, and this has allowed us to treat patients more quickly and support them to return home safely.

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“This injection of skills, experience and capacity to our dedicated Fraser Coast medical workforce will have a real impact on the services we can provide.”

“With the recruitment of several senior surgical staff, we’ve already seen enormous improvements in our elective surgery long waits.

“We still have 57 patients who are experiencing long waits, but we’re on track to have that down zero by June 30, 2024.”

“It’s a testament to the hard work of our dedicated health workers that we continue to provide quality service to our community, despite more people coming through our doors than ever before,” she said.

“I am proud to see such significant improvements to our elective surgery and emergency department waiting times, and I congratulate our hardworking staff on such positive results.”