Jillian Skinner med rel: Quality patient care – Faster than ever

Health Minister Jillian Skinner today congratulated the state’s public hospitals following a new report showing NSW continues to improve its emergency department performance.

Mrs Skinner said the report, which measures performance at 112 of Australia’s emergency departments in 2012 and 2013, shows NSW is the only state with all facilities showing improvement year-on-year.

“Patients entering emergency departments in NSW are being treated quicker than ever before,” Mrs Skinner said.

“I’m incredibly proud of the advancements made in emergency care at our public hospitals. I have absolutely no doubt patients in NSW are in safe hands.

“The improvements in emergency care are testament to the efforts of our hospital staff, who are adopting new models of care to meet increased demand and ensure patients are receiving timely, quality care.”

The report, Hospital Performance: Time Patients Spent in Emergency Departments in 2012 and 2013, measures the percentage of patients who, after attending an ED, are subsequently admitted to the hospital, referred to another hospital or discharged within four hours.

Mrs Skinner said in 2012 and 2013 there were significant improvements in public hospitals across NSW.

“In 2013 at The Tweed Hospital, 75 per cent of all patients admitted to the emergency department were seen within four hours. This is an improvement of 10 percentage points on the previous year,” Mrs Skinner said.

“At Auburn Hospital, 80 per cent of all patients were seen within four hours, a 13 percentage point improvement in its year-on-year performance.

“The NSW annual state National Emergency Access Target (NEAT) was 69 per cent in 2012 and 71 per cent in 2013.

“Last year, several hospitals exceeded this target, including Manly Hospital (84 per cent), Fairfield Hospital (76 per cent), Ryde Hospital (73 per cent), The Tweed (75 per cent), Manning Hospital (78 per cent), Mona Vale Hospital (73 per cent), Bathurst Hospital (72 per cent) and Auburn Hospital (80 per cent).

“In fact, this report shows NSW was the only state to record consistent improvements in the NEAT indicator across our public hospitals in 2013.

“I congratulate our dedicated clinicians and hospital staff for their hard work to achieve these wonderful results,” Mrs Skinner said.

In 2013, there were almost 7 million patient presentations to emergency departments across the country and nearly 2.6 million presentations in NSW – the highest number nationally.