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Critical hospital healthcare fails to keep up pace

National report reveals hospitals are failing in key healthcare areas.

Australian Council on Healthcare Stand­ards president Len Notaras. Picture: Keri Megelus
Australian Council on Healthcare Stand­ards president Len Notaras. Picture: Keri Megelus

A national report on the performan­ce of hundreds of healthcare services has shown significant improvement in the quality of care in Australia’s hospital­s but emergency department waiting times, obstetric interventi­ons and use of restraint in mental health services have all increased markedly.

The latest Australasian Clinic­al Indicator report, publishe­d by the Australian Council on Healthcare Stand­ards, collected data from 656 healthcare organisations and reporte­d improvements and deteriorat­ions across a wide range of medical specialties.

The 2018 data revealed posit­ive trends across many clinical indicators, particularly in anaesthesia and perioperative care, day patient care, emergency medicine, gynaecology, infection control, intensive care, paediatri­cs and rehabilitation medicine.

The data is collected from healthcare organisations on a voluntary basis and is the most detailed hospital performance data available in the country, said ACHS president Len Notaras. “It provides an immen­se opportunity for healthcare services to assess their performance and compare how they are performing at a nationa­l level with their peers,’’ Professor Notaras said.

The report highlighted a range of areas that had significantly deteriorated, including in maternity care, mental health and emergency medicine.

In obstetrics, the data showed only 41 per cent of women had spontaneous vaginal births, while 44 per cent of pregnancies were induced. This was an increase from the previous year.

Instrumental vaginal births and caesarean sections had also increased, as had the rate of episiotomies. At the same time, the numbers of women suffering third- and fourth-degree tears during birth reduced.

In mental health, the report showed there had been a threefold increase in the physical restrain­t of patients.

The report showed the incid­ence of seclusion in mental health wards had reduced, more patients had care plans in place, and fewer patients were discharged from hospital on multipl­e medications.

In emergency medicine, the report showed worrying trends in the speed at which patients are seen and treated, and the time­liness of transfer to intensive care units for the critically ill.

On average, only 65 per cent of those with life-threatening or “situationally urgent” conditions were seen in emergency departments within 30 minutes.

Those with mental illness were also spending excessive ­periods of time in emergency department­s. Only 25 per cent of mentally ill patients presenting at emergency were admitted within four hours.

“Based on the data, it is apparen­t Australia’s health system­ is failing to meet the needs of people who present to ED seeking urgent mental care,” the report said.

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Original URL: https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/critical-hospital-healthcare-fails-to-keep-up-pace/news-story/052904aa9e74d37819b829b9ed271840