Waiting times at Northern Health’s emergency department are improving, but the hospital still fails to meet state government benchmarks for treatment and ambulance transfer times, new data reveals.
The government’s Victorian Health Services Performance Report for the September quarter reveals that 20,790 patients were treated at Northern Hospital’s emergency department between July and September this year, up from 19,502 at the same time last year.
Despite the increase in patients, the hospital was able to reduce waiting times, with the average wait dropping from 24 minutes in September 2015 to 22 minutes this September.
The hospital also increased the number of patients seen in a timely manner. Between July and September, 71 per cent of patients were treated within timeframes set by the government, up from 67 per cent the year before. However, the data shows the hospital still struggles to meet treatment benchmarks.
Hospitals are required to treat 80 per cent of category two patients – those who present with very severe symptoms – within 10 minutes.Seventy-five per cent of category three patients with moderately severe symptoms should be seen within 30 minutes.
Between July and September, Northern Hospital treated 77 per cent of category two patients and 64 per cent of category three patients on time.
The hospital also failed to meet government benchmarks for ambulance treatment times, finding beds for only 79 per cent of patients within 40 minutes of arrival at emergency.
The benchmark is 90 per cent.
The data also show that Northern Health has among the state’s longest waiting times for orthopeadic and ear, nose and throat surgeries, despite drops in waiting times for other elective surgeries.
Northern Health did not respond to
Star Weekly’s request for comment on its waiting times.
But, in August, the hospital organisation announced a $17.3 million upgrade of Broadmeadows Health Service to help improve elective surgery waiting times, and to free up operating theatres at Northern Hospital.
