From the AMA.
Data out today paints a grim picture of Australia’s public hospitals with nearly one in two patients spending more than the recommended time in emergency departments, while the planned surgery waiting list soars past 850,000 people.
The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) data is further proof that Australia’s public hospitals are struggling more than ever with an under-resourced system in logjam around the country.
The AIHW data shows 44 per cent of patients who presented to EDs spent more than four hours waiting and receiving treatment before either being admitted to hospital or being discharged in 2022–23, a five per cent increase compared to the previous year, and an 11 per cent increase compared to 2021–22.
It was worst in Tasmania, where almost four in five (78 per cent) patients spent more than four hours in EDs before being admitted to hospital. In NSW, it was 75 per cent.
Australian Medical Association President Professor Steve Robson said a lack of capacity in hospitals had led to people waiting years for essential surgery, long waits in EDs and ambulance ramping.
“Australia’s public hospital performance is at its worst since the AMA started tracking the data 20 years ago,” Professor Robson said.
“Public hospitals are inadequately funded and resourced. The outcome is ambulance ramping, patients spending far too long in EDs and a surgery waiting list that is nudging close to one million people.”
The AIHW data reveals a significant uptick in the number of people waiting for surgery. In 2022–23, 855,528 patients were on the surgery waiting list, compared with 787,715 in 2021–22.
“The number of people waiting more than a year for hip and knee replacement surgeries has quadrupled since 2018–19. It’s important to remember that behind each number are real people whose lives are being severely impacted by serious health conditions that require surgery,” Professor Robson said.
“We are seeing more and more Australians die waiting for these essential surgeries, with more than 12,000 deaths in 2022–23, up from 9,000 the year before. While these deaths may not have been because of delayed surgery, it is an alarming increase.”
Professor Robson said major reform to the National Hospital Funding Agreement was needed along with an urgent injection of funds to address immediate issues.
“The AMA continues to call for an immediate urgent injection of funds to address the current logjam and reform to the National Hospital Funding Agreement, including a 50–50 funding split between the states and territories and the federal government, and funding for performance,” he said.
More.
Eight nurses and midwives have taken their lives in the past three years, the union says, while nearly 2000 NSW Health workers lodged compensation claims for psychological injuries over the past two years, new data reveals.
More than 33,500 NSW Health employees have also claimed they are burnt out, while 21,000 workers say they have witnessed bullying in the workplace.
Experts and unions warn that the data – drawn from documents obtained exclusively by the Herald under freedom of information laws and the state government’s recently released annual employee survey, People Matter – shows a workplace struggling with staff mental health concerns.
More.
NSW ambulance response times are among the slowest in the country, with the state recording its longest wait time in a decade…
The Australian government report stated this was the longest wait time recorded in NSW in a decade…
Ambulances in Sydney also had the slowest capital-city response time for code one emergencies, with patients waiting 21.3 minutes in 2018/19…
The NSW Health Services Union argued population growth was placing increased strain on the state’s ambulance service…
“Our paramedics are dealing with ever more complex problems such as slower traffic, higher density living and declining air quality.”
More money won’t fix it. Only a sustainable population strategy will.
Australian Medical Association state president Dr Roderick McRae says Victoria’s healthcare system had been in “dire straits” long before the pandemic hit.
Hospitals have been underfunded for years, he says, leading to bed and staffing shortages…
Victoria now has more patients than ever before and they are sicker…
McRae says: “We’ve seen the population [growth] in Melbourne double in the last 10 to 12 years and the bed numbers and hospital services just haven’t kept up. The pandemic has just further exposed every hole that was already there”…
It’s not rocket surgery.
