NSW premier Chris Minns announced the formation of a taskforce this morning, aiming to reduce waiting times for emergency department patients. The need for a taskforce arose after recent reports by the Bureau of Health Information (BHI) and the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) revealed concerning statistics. AIHW reported that 90 percent of patients visiting the emergency department (ED) are seen within two hours and four minutes, while BHI reported that 56.6 percent of patients in the ED spent more than four hours before discharge, the worst results since statistics began in 2010.
Changes will be implemented throughout rural and urban hospitals in NSW to address these issues, including upgrading patient flow, improving discharge times, and enhancing the patient experience in the ED. Minister for Health, Ryan Park commented on the task force, calling it “the latest initiative in our suite of measures to improve wait times and access to care.” GP and hospital workers have been under pressure due to long wait times, with reports suggesting that some patients could have been treated by a GP.
The aim of the task force is to battle these issues by relieving pressure on both GPs and hospital workers. Initiatives including the movement of patients to parts of the hospital system with more capacity and coordinating with pharmacies and virtual care workers will help ease the burden. Already, these measures have led to improvements in hospital wait times, with 67 percent of ED patients starting their treatment on time and an increase of 3.6 percent in the number of patients attending the ED compared to last year. NSW Health Deputy Secretary Adjunct Professor Matthew Daly commended the public hospitals and healthcare workers, stating that they were recognized as the best in the country for performance in emergency departments in 2022-23, and ensured high-quality care during high demand. Health Minister Mr. Park also expressed pride in the hospital workers, acknowledging their exceptional work during the COVID-19 pandemic.