Emergency wait times blow out at Blacktown Hospital, report shows
About 40 per cent of patients at Blacktown Hospital waited four hours or more in the emergency department, new data reveals.
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Blacktown Hospital has one of the longest emergency wait times in the state, new data reveals.
About 40 per cent of patients at Blacktown Hospital waited four hours or more in the ED, the Bureau of Health Information quarterly report says.
This was the equal third worst performance in the state, behind Nepean (51.8 per cent), Royal Prince Alfred (41.4 per cent) and tied with Liverpool (40.4 per cent).
At Blacktown Hospital, a record number of 10,747 patients visited the emergency department from April to June 2016, up from 8600 in 2011. The number of patients presenting to the ED across all categories increased, as did the time it took for them to receive treatment.
For example, the number of critically ill patients who needed treatment within 10 minutes (triage 2) rose by 313, an 11 per cent increase on the same period last year.
These patients waited 11 minutes to receive treatment, compared with the state wide median time of eight minutes.
Western Sydney surgeon and Australian Medical Association delegate for the region, Fred Betros, said the latest figures showed how much strain Blacktown Hospital was under.
“Every doctor wants to do the best by their patients, but we are really hamstrung by resource limitations,” he said.
“We can often have a patient admitted to Blacktown’s emergency and despite having the best treatment from nurses and doctors they can’t go to a bed in the ward for 16-20 hours purely because there’s not a bed available.”
Blacktown Hospital general manager Sue-Anne Redmond said the hospital was experiencing more presentations because of a rapidly growing population and seasonal factors.
“Patients seeking care at the emergency department during the period were more acutely unwell,” she said.
Ms Redmond said the hospital has identified areas causing delays such as transferring patients from ambulances to the ward and put in place processes to improve them.
She said the multi-million dollar redevelopment under way at Blacktown Hospital would provide improve facilities.
While Dr Betros welcomed the investment, he said ongoing funding was needed in the short term for more nurses, doctors and beds. Long term, he said state and federal governments should invest more in general practice to prevent patients from clogging up emergency departments.
Lalor Park resident John Purnell is not surprised at the latest health report, which showed Blacktown Hospital behind only Nepean and Royal Prince Albert for most patients waiting.
“I would have thought Blacktown would be number 1,” he said.
The 53-year-old kitchen hand said he waited more than six hours for a bed when he went to the emergency department at the end of June after a chicken piece got stuck in his throat.
“It was three hours before they put a drip in my arm,” he said.
“When I left about 2 o’clock the next day there was still people waiting from the night before.”
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