NEARLY three quarters of people attending emergency departments in the past year were seen 'on time' for their urgency (triage) category however this is slightly worse than the year prior, according to a new report released by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare.
Create a free account to read this article
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The worst performing state or territory was the ACT with 59 per cent compared to the best - New South Wales at 81 per cent.
The report, Emergency department care 2014-15: Australian hospital statistics, shows that nationally, almost 100 per cent of resuscitation patients (those requiring treatment immediately), 79 per cent of emergency patients (requiring treatment within 10 minutes), and 92 per cent of non-urgent patients (requiring treatment within 2 hours) were seen on time.
The report also shows that the overall proportion of patients seen on time increased from 70 per cent in 2010-11 to 75 per cent in 2013-14 and decreased to 74 per cent in 2014-15.
There were about 7.4 million presentations to the 290 public hospital emergency departments that were in the AIHW data collection in 2014-15, or over 20,000 presentations each day with the number of presentations to emergency departments increasing by an average of 3.4 per cent each year since 2010-2011.
The report also shows that a greater proportion of patients completed their emergency department visit in four hours or less - from 64 per cent in 2011-12 to 73 per cent in 2014-15.
Western Australia had the highest proportion of emergency department visits completed in four hours or less (79 per cent) while the Northern Territory had the lowest (62 per cent).
About 30 per cent of emergency department patients were admitted to hospital after their emergency department care, and for these patients, 47 per cent were admitted in four hours or less, and 90 per cent were admitted within 11 hours and 41 minutes.
Overall, just over half of emergency department presentations were for men and boys, and the most common ten year age group was 15-24 years.
Over one-quarter (27 per cent) of presentations to emergency departments were for injuries or poisoning.
For more Australian hospital statistics, visit www.aihw.gov.au/hospitals
