Dubbo Hospital's emergency department experienced the biggest increase in patients

A total of 25,003 people presented for treatment at Bathurst, Dubbo and Orange EDs from October to December last year, which was an increase on the 23,356 seen during the same quarter in 2018 (a 7.1 per cent increase).

Dubbo had by far the busiest ED during the reporting period with 9796 people treated during the three-month period - an average of 106 every single day.

This represents an increase of 11.9 per cent on the same quarter during 2018 when 8755 people presented for treatment.

In Orange, the region's second busiest ED, staff helped 8123 patients during the quarter which was an increase of 3.9 per cent on the 7819 in the previous report.

While at Bathurst's ED, 7084 people attended for emergency treatment, which was a 4.5 per cent jump on the 6782 patients seen during the same quarter in 2018.

The number of critically ill patients in Orange has increased significantly, with 102 people needing resuscitation as they entered the ED (a jump of 29.1 per cent).

At Bathurst's ED there was a slight increase in the number of patients requiring resuscitation with 27 people, up from 24 during the previous reporting period.

In Dubbo, however, there was a decrease in the number of critically ill patients, with 23 resuscitations this quarter which is down by 28.1 per cent from 32 people.

All patients are triaged when they enter an ED - triage one represents a critically ill person who requires resuscitation, while a triage five case is classified as non-urgent.

The number of triage five cases soared by 50.8 per cent in Dubbo - from 906 people to 1366; while there was an increase of 11.7 per cent in Bathurst (from 531 people to 593).

In Orange, however, the ED treated less non-urgent cases during the quarter, with a decline from 1712 to 1685 (down 1.6 per cent).

Two of the region's smaller hospitals experienced an increased number of patients, with Forbes' ED staff treating 2083 people, which was a 2.0 per cent increase on the 2043 seen during the same quarter in 2018.

Cowra had a slight increase with patient numbers up from 1887 to 1872 (up 0.2 per cent), while Mudgee's ED experienced a drop in patients with attendances falling from 3182 to 3175 (down 0.2 per cent).