COVID-19 and influenza continue to put pressure on health services in the region with nearly 48,000 people presenting themselves in hospitals since January this year.
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High demand for services, while there is a staff shortage, has "placed immense pressure on our facilities and healthcare workers", Western NSW Local Health District chief executive Mark Spittal said.
Basing his assessment of the latest Bureau of Health Information report, Mr Spittal said the district has "experienced sustained high demand and significant staff unavailability" as COVID variant Omicron had spread along with influenza.
In the first quarter of the year, there were 9491 attendances to Dubbo Hospital's emergency department.
Of those, 84.8 per cent started their treatment on time in the emergency department, which was significantly higher than the average of 62.9 per cent for comparable hospitals in NSW.
Across the district, attendances in hospitals' emergency departments reached 47,524 people with 2,341 of them requiring elective surgeries for other forms of illnesses.
Mr Spittal said the increasing number of COVID cases in the district was a "huge challenge" to hospitals facing staff shortages as health workers go on leave from work after contracting the virus at work and outside of work.
"The report captures that unprecedented period during which the impact of COVID-19 was significant on hospitals, health facilities, and healthcare workers alike.
"We experienced sustained high demand and significant staff unavailability during the opening quarter of 2022 and the additional resources required placed immense pressure on our facilities and workers."
Despite staff shortages, Mr Spittal said the district's health services "performed better" than others in NSW in other areas of services.
The region's elective surgeries budget has received $458.5 million and another $80 million from the 2020-2021 budget to reduce the backlog since the pandemic has affected surgeries.
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Across the district's services, the report said 84 per cent of patients were attended to on time compared to 70.5 per cent on average at triage. About 74 per cent of those who attended emergency departments have received treatment and ambulances and paramedics have performed well with 87 per cent of patients transferred to hospitals within the 30-minute mark.
"We are immensely proud of and thankful for our staff's continued commitment to rise to those challenges in incredibly trying circumstances, and their ability to continue providing high-quality and safe care for all of our patients," Mr Spittal said.
Mr Spittal said the district is set to get a major boost in workforce numbers to address staff shortages in the 2022-2023 budget by the NSW government to be announced on June 21.
NSW Health has earlier announced the 2022-2023 budget would include the recruitment of 10,148 full-time staff for hospitals and health services across NSW for the next four years.
The NSW ambulance and paramedics services are to recruit 2,128 new staff and open 30 new ambulance stations as part of the $4.5 billion budget for health, of which $1.76 billion is allocated for additional ambulance services and employing new paramedics.
The district's workforce has seen a 12.8 percent increase up to last year, with 109 more doctors, 210 more nurses and midwives, and 133 allied health staff.
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