WESTERN suburbs patients are waiting longer for elective surgery, having more operations cancelled and experiencing increasing delays in getting a bed in a ward, the latest state government data shows.
The Victorian Health Services Performance Report for the three months to last December shows 12,048 people were admitted for emergency care at Footscray, Williamstown and Sunshine hospitals – down marginally from 12,279 in the December 2010 quarter.
Ambulances were directed to other hospitals as Western Health’s two biggest hospitals at Sunshine and Footscray came under high loads – known as hospital bypass. It happened 3.8 per cent of the time at Footscray, up from 0.9 per cent, and 1.5 per cent at Sunshine, compared to 0.7 per cent. Both recent figures are higher than the state average of 1.4 per cent.
The two hospitals dipped in performance with patients who needed emergency care: 66per cent at Sunshine – down from 71per cent the previous year – and 70per cent at Footscray – down from 75per cent – were treated within the target time frames set by the state government.
The number of category 2 patients, those with severe pain, breathing difficulties and major fractures, treated within 10 minutes declined in the 12-month period.
It was a similar story for category 3 patients, those with symptoms such as blood loss, persistent vomiting and dehydration, who should be treated within 30 minutes.
All of the most critical patients requiring resuscitation or with life-threatening injuries are to be given immediate care – a target met at all Western Health sites.
Close to one in two patients at both hospitals waited longer than eight hours to get a bed after emergency care. The figures of 56per cent at Footscray and 57 per cent at Sunshine are down on the 63 and 67 per cent, respectively, the year before.
Western Health also met its urgent elective surgery targets, but some non-urgent-category patients still face lengthy waits.
In the December quarter last year, there were 3650 elective surgery patients on the Western Health waiting list, up from 3135 in the same period the previous year, an increase of 16per cent. The number of elective surgeries cancelled at Sunshine, Footscray, Williamstown and Sunbury hospitals jumped from 407 in December 2010 to 528 a year later.
