There's fewer patients, but our hospital's emergency wait times increase

Data from the Bureau of Health Information's (BHI) latest Healthcare Quarterly report showed a drop in the number of patients presenting to the emergency department (ED) at Dubbo Hospital, as well as a drop in the number of those who were seen on time.

From October to December 2023, 67.2 per cent of patients who presented to ED were seen on time, which represented a 7.4 per cent drop from the same period the previous year.

This was despite the number of patients presenting to the department also falling. From October to December 2023, Dubbo Hospital had 9582 patients presenting to the emergency department, down 59 presentations from the same quarter the previous year.

Another downward trend was the percentage of patients who left the ED within four hours, which dropped 13.9 per cent to 50.9 per cent compared to the previous comparable period.

Dubbo Hospital performed 980 planned surgeries during the quarter, with almost all urgent planned surgeries (99.5 per cent) performed on time.

There were 291 babies born at Dubbo Hospital during the second quarter of the year.

Dubbo was at the bottom of the ladder when it came to patients leaving the ED within four hours, compared with the other public hospitals in the Western NSW Local Health District (WNSWLHD).

When it came to patients being able to leave the ED within four hours, Forbes was the highest in the district with 86 per cent, followed by Cowra (84.9 per cent), Mudgee (80.4), Orange (54.8), Bathurst (53.4) and finally Dubbo (50.9).

The NSW average for the percentage of patients who left the ED within four hours was 58.1 per cent. Dubbo's performance in this area dropped 13.9 per cent compared with the previous year.

When it came to the time patients were required to wait in the ED before they were seen for treatment, Dubbo was again at the bottom of the WNSWLHD ladder with 67.2 per cent of patients being treated on time, compared to the leader, Cowra, on 93.5 per cent. The NSW average was 68.3 per cent.

During the three-month period, Dubbo had the highest number of attendees (9894) in the district compared with 8556 in Orange, 6729 in Bathurst, 4142 in Mudgee, 2438 in Cowra and 2273 in Forbes.

The Western NSW LHD states the latest BHI report shows the district's public hospitals on a whole have improved performance through a busy quarter.

There were improvements in planned surgery and ED performance in general, despite an increasing demand for hospital care.

"This report shows our District has improved across a range of key performance measures when compared with the same quarter in 2022, including time to start ED treatment," Mr Spittal, WNSWLHD chief executive, said in a statement.

"These results are a testament to the hard work of our healthcare workers, I remain incredibly grateful for their commitment and want to thank all of our dedicated staff."

The LHD did not respond to a question from the Daily Liberal about why Dubbo's ED wait times were longer when there were less patients during the period.

The Healthcare Quarterly report shows that during the October to December 2023 quarter, demand for ED services in NSW remained high.

BHI Chief Executive Dr Diane Watson said in a statement: "Hospitals are treating more patients with the most urgent clinical conditions, with a record number of triage 1 and 2 presentations to NSW EDs in October to December 2023."

Despite this, there was a continued improvement in the time patients waited to start treatment following record long waits in mid-2022. However, patients continued to spend a long time in the ED with just 58.1 per cent leaving within four hours.