It has been a busy period for Goulburn Base Hospital and Health Service this year, but the service seems to be coping with the demand.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
According to Healthcare Quarterly statistics, released by Bureau of Health Information (BHI) for the April to June period, 174 patients admitted with a primary diagnosis of mental illness, a decrease of 17 patients (-8.9%) when compared to the same period last year (the admissions include Chisholm Ross Centre and Kenmore).
The average length of stay in the hospital for mental health patients also increased from 10.2 days to 13.5 days, the report reveals.
Meanwhile, the Emergency Department (ED) has been keeping busy with arrivals by ambulances increasing to 972 from 923 last year and rise in all ED presentations from 4,664 last year to 4,859 this year.
The figures reveal a rise in emergency presentations with an increase in resuscitation (25), semi-urgent (1,978) and non-urgent (515) cases and a decline in emergency (482) and urgent (1,664) cases.
Meanwhile, there was an improvement in starting treatment of patients on time by 7.8% with 72.7% patients starting treatment on time as compared to 64.9% last year.
"As expected, the longest flu season in NSW since the 2009 pandemic has influenced the amount of patient presentations to our emergency departments, reflected in the latest Bureau of Health Information report," Southern NSW Local Health District spokesperson said.
"ED's across Southern NSW Local Health District have seen a 10 per cent year-on-year increase in patients, with more than 29,000 presentations from April to June.
"Despite this, more than three-quarters (72.7 per cent) of patients started their treatment on time, a jump of two percentage points compared with the same quarter last year."
According to the report, ED's median time taken for treatment of patients in emergency improved from 10 minutes to seven minutes this year. Similarly, it decreased from 24 minutes to 22 minutes for urgent cases.
"This increase in performance is due a number of factors, including an increase of one shift per weekend day for nursing staff in the ED and closely analysing the presentation data to ensure the ED has the appropriate nursing staff profile at any point in time," the spokesperson said.
"The emergency staff also participated in a successful development program to improve patient care in the ED."
The elective surgery procedures performed decreased from 491 to 404 this year. The report shows that 58 urgent surgeries were performed this year as compared to 85 last year with 769 patients on waiting list, an increase from 741 last year.
It further states that while the median wait time for urgent elective surgeries reduced from 14 days to 13 days, those surgeries performed on time reduced from 99.4% to 89.7%. However, all the urgent surgeries were performed on time.
"The latest figures come on the back of extensive investment by the NSW government in a number of facilities across the district, with $120 million being spent redeveloping the Goulburn Health Service, with an upgraded Goulburn Base Hospital as the main element of the project and a further $30 million announced for new cancer and renal service facilities as part of the project," the spokesperson added.
The report shows that hospitals and ambulance services across New South Wales (NSW) were very busy during the April to June quarter this year.
There were more than 754,000 presentations to EDs, an increase of 8.2% compared with the same quarter in 2018.
The report states that about seven in 10 ED (71.8%) patients were treated within clinically recommended timeframes, down 4.8%.
A recent report released by the Bureau of Health Information (BHI) has thrown some light on the services of the Southern New South Wales (NSW) Local Health District during the April to June quarter this year.
The report has revealed an increase in the number of patients suffering from mental health episodes across the district from 288 last year to 294, showing a change of 2.1%, according to the report.
The average length of their stay increased from 13.5% last year to 18.2% this year for that duration with the hospital bed days increasing from 3,883 to 5,347.
The ED saw an increase in arrival by ambulance to 4,587 this year, an increase by 7.2%.
There was no change in the median time taken for treatment in an emergency cases and it remained at eight minutes this year as well.
For urgent cases, the time to treat a patient reduced to 19 minutes for this year's quarter as compared to 20 minutes last year.
READ ALSO: An afternoon of fine music in Gunning
There was an increase in the number of patients starting treatment of time from 75.2% to 77.2%.
It's good news for Queanbeyan Hospital and Health Service, which has achieved a 100% success rate for performing elective surgery procedures on time during the period of April to June this year.
There were 235 elective surgeries which were performed this year as compared to 308 last year, the report states.
READ ALSO: Safer paths and roads for the city
At the end of the quarter, there were 211 patients this year on the waiting list for elective surgery as compared to 230 last year.
There was an improvement in the waiting time for patients at ED with 80.4% starting treated on time this year. Last year, the figures were 74.4%.
There was an increase in arrivals at ED by ambulance to 674 this year from 648 last year and increase in emergency presentations from 5,197 last year to 6,034 this year.
The Southern NSW Local Health District was contacted for comments by The Goulburn Post and did not receive a response at the time of going to print.
Did you know the Goulburn Post is now offering breaking news alerts and a weekly email newsletter? Keep up-to-date with all the local news: sign up below.
