Despite the establishment of two Urgent Care Clinics on the Central Coast, attendances at the region’s public hospital emergency departments have risen over the past year, reflective of a statewide result showing NSW hospitals are under unprecedented pressure.
The latest Bureau of Health Information (BHI) quarterly results for the January-March 2024 quarter show there were 810,201 emergency department presentations in the state during the quarter – up 5.2 per cent from the same quarter last year – the highest on record.
Ambulance activity was also the highest of any quarter since BHI began reporting in 2010, with 383,341 responses.
Of these, more than 17,000 were priority 1A or life-threatening cases, another record level of activity.
On the Central Coast, there were 40,243 attendances at EDs in the quarter, a rise of 6.3 per cent over the same quarter last year.
Ambulance arrivals were also up, with 12,444 recorded – up 10.1 per cent on last year.
There was a miniscule dip in the number of patients starting treatment on time – 51.3 per cent (down from 51.5 per cent last year), with the region well below the state average of 66.1 per cent.
Just 42.3 per cent of patients presenting to EDs in the region were able to leave within four hours, down by two per cent on last year’s figure and again below the state average of 55.9 per cent.
Health Minister Ryan Park said the state’s hospitals were confronted with unprecedented pressure.
“We won’t undo the 12 years of underinvestment in our health system by the Liberals and Nationals overnight, and I’ve always said that this will remain a significant challenge,” he said.
“And everyone knows that it is becoming more difficult to access a GP.
“But we are undertaking the structural reforms to our health system to ensure our community receives the care they need and deserve – by delivering the single largest boost to our workforce in the history of our health system and creating more pathways to treatment and care outside the hospital.”
Park said the NSW Government remained committed to alleviating pressure on the state’s busy hospitals through: boosting staff and treatment spaces; creating more pathways to care outside hospitals via HealthDirect and urgent care services; reducing overdue surgeries by safely increasing short-stay procedures; empowering pharmacies to prescribe low-complex medications, relieving pressure on GPs; and establishing the emergency department and surgical care taskforces.
looks like lots of money well spent on the urgent care clinics, what have they achieved except waste millions of tax payer funds