Patients waiting longer at Bankstown, Canterbury hospitals
Less than half the patients attending the emergency department at Bankstown-Lidcombe Hospital had been treated in the recommended waiting time.
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Waiting times have increased for emergency patients at Bankstown-Lidcombe Hospital and Canterbury Hospital for the first quarter of the year, compared to the same period in 2018.
According to the Bureau of Health Information’s latest report, at Bankstown-Lidcombe Hospital less than half (47.2 per cent) of triage 2 emergency patients were seen within the recommended time from January to March, compared to 55.1 per cent for the same period last year.
Triage 2 are emergencies such as chest pain and severe burns.
The report said 59.9 per cent of all emergency patients at Bankstown-Lidcombe were treated on time, compared to 69.8 per cent for the same period in 2018.
The median time for patients to leave the hospital was longer too, three hours and 14 minutes — 10 minutes longer than last year.
For Canterbury Hospital, 59.6 per cent of Triage 2 patients at the ED were seen on time, a sizeable drop from the same period in 2018, when 73.2 per cent of patients were treated within the recommended time frame.
The ED treated 705 more patients (up 6.4 per cent), for the first quarter this year, rising from 11,222 to 11,927.
Overall, NSW emergency departments experienced their busiest quarter on record with figures showing 750,000 presentations from January to March — up 42,000 people or 5.9 per cent on the same quarter last year.
On average 28.1 per cent of patients in hospitals across NSW did not start their treatment within recommended time frames.
IN OTHER NEWS
Bankstown-Lidcombe Hospital general manager Peter Rophail said their staff are doing a great job despite their ED experiencing a rise in demand from January to March 2019, with a 7.8 per cent increase in presentations, totalling 14,367 patients, up by 1034, compared to the same period last year.
“Among these presentations were increasingly complex cases falling into the top three triage categories — resuscitation, emergency and urgent — requiring more intensive resources and
care,” he said.
A spokeswoman for Sydney Local Health District said Canterbury Hospital was performing better than its peer group in four of the triage sections. She said the hospital recorded a median transfer of care time for patients arriving by ambulance of 12 minutes, well below the NSW benchmark of 30 minutes.
She said the hospital’s ED was undergoing a $6.5 million expansion and feedback from patients — which began in 2017 — was providing provides a “robust system where any issues can be quickly addressed”.
“Its emergency department sees about 45,000 presentations annually (or about one person every 12 minutes),” she said.
“This has increased from about 40,000 people a year in 2014.
“Despite the surge in the numbers of patients, ED staff performed extremely well, with 75.5 per cent of patients leaving the ED within four hours.”
Bankstown-Lidcombe Hospital resuscitated more patients (119) for this period in 2019, compared to 100 last year.
Overall there was a 6.4 per cent increase in the patients admitted to hospital from the ED, with 5055 compared to 4753.
More people (4,546) were transported by ambulance to the ED this year, a 12.7 per cent rise.
The median time to treat patients was one minute slower, from 10 minutes last year to 11 minutes this year.
There were more than 1000 extra patients at the Bankstown-Lidcombe Hospital for the first quarter, up from 13,333 to 14,367.
Bankstown-Lidcombe Hospital GM Mr Rophail said planning on Bankstown-Lidcombe Hospital’s $25 million ED redevelopment has begun and it will increase capacity to meet the needs of one of Sydney’s fastest growing regions.
“There was a rise in patients arriving by ambulance, jumping to 4546 for the three-month period, an increase of 512 (12.7 per cent),” he said.
“Despite this rise, 71.2 per cent of patients left the Emergency Department within four hours.
“Despite seeing an almost 34 per cent increase in patients to the emergency department in this quarter compared to the same quarter in 2010 performance is still better.
“The team is doing a wonderful job caring for our patients and we are continuously reviewing our performance and models of care, to ensure our services can meet the demands of the
population.”
Bankstown state Labor MP Tania Mihailuk said Bankstown-Lidcombe Hospital was being neglected by the government.
“Less than half emergency patients are receiving treatment within the clinically recommended time frame at Bankstown — much lower than the state wide average,” Ms Mihailuk said.
“This government needs to stop playing politics with people’s lives and invest in our community.
“It’s time to invest in the Bankstown region, the emergency department is at capacity, elective surgery wait time is through the roof and the carpark is forever full, we deserve to be made a priority.
“We were promised a new emergency department, more frontline staff and a new hospital, but all we’re seeing is increasing wait times for critically ill patients.”
PETITION TO PARLIAMENT
Canterbury state Labor MP Sophie Cotsis last week submitted to NSW Parliament a petition with more than 1000 signatures from local residents, activists, community organisations, and interfaith groups “demanding the Health Minister and the Berejiklian Government immediately invest additional funding and resources into Canterbury Hospital”.
“With the overdevelopment of our local communities and the growth in population, these recent waiting time statistics are unprecedented and proof that Canterbury Hospital is in need of an urgent upgrade,” Ms Cotsis said.
“The neglect of our local community cannot be allowed to continue.
“I am urging that the Berejiklian Government announce funds in Tuesday’s budget and to be accountable for their actions.”
Ms Cotsis, in her first speech to the Parliament, spoke of her vision to fully upgrade Canterbury Hospital and create a world-class health service precinct around the hospital to ensure local communities are able to access key health services.
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