Emergency presentations remain stable at Mudgee Health Service, although there was an increase in the percentage of patients admitted to hospital via the ED, according to the Western NSW Local Health District quarterly report.
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Across the whole District, which includes Base Hospitals at Bathurst, Orange and Dubbo, as well as District Hospitals including Cowra, Mudgee and Forbes, there was a small decrease in the number of emergency cases seen in Emergency Departments compared to the same period last year.
For Mudgee Health Service there was a small improvement in the percentage of patients who left within four hours of presentation.
The time taken to transfer care from ambulance to hospital also improved.
Mudgee Health Service performed 122 elective surgeries, with 100 per cent performed on time.
In total, 41,889 emergency presentations came to District Emergency Departments, including 225 cases requiring resuscitation and 4,359 in the Emergency category.
Increases in both of these categories suggest the continued improvement of local hospitals to handle complex emergency cases, rather than being transferred to metropolitan facilities.
There were improvements in other key emergency department measures including:
- An increase in the percentage of patients whose care was transferred from ambulance to hospital staff in 30 minutes;
- An increase in the number of patients leaving the ED within four hours of arrival;
- Reductions in the time taken to transfer patients from the care of ambulance to hospital staff.
There was an increase of six per cent in the number of elective surgeries performed across the District compared to the same period last year.
The district was successful in receiving $976,000 in funding for additional surgery in Western NSW as part of the additional $3 million the NSW Government is providing through the Increasing Access to Elective Surgery Initiative 2017.
The funding will ensure more cataract removal, total hip replacement and total knee replacement procedures will be performed this financial year.
However, while less urgent presentations to emergency departments have declined compared to last year, there are still patients coming to hospital emergency departments for non-emergency reasons who could receive treatment more appropriately by accessing services such as their General Practitioner or local pharmacy.