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Annual report reveals struggling health system
28 October 2011
The Department of Health’s annual report released yesterday has revealed that Victoria’s health system is struggling to keep up with growing demand.
“A number of the Government’s own targets for treating patients within clinically appropriate times have not been met,” said AMA Victoria President Dr Harry Hemley.
The report shows that in the last financial year there were 49,000 more emergency department presentations and 68,000 more patient separations (episodes of care) in Victorian public hospitals compared to the previous year.
“Hospitals failed to meet targets to transfer, treat or discharge emergency department patients within an appropriate time,” said Dr Hemley. “That hospitals are failing to meet those benchmarks demonstrates that hospitals have capacity problems. It is time for the Baillieu Government to start delivering the additional resources they promised for the health system.
The Baillieu Government promised 800 new beds in its first term of Government including 100 new beds to be delivered in its first year.
“AMA Victoria calls on Minister Davis to announce where the promised 100 beds will be located, what type they will be and when they will be delivered,” said Dr Hemley.
“It is also concerning that waiting times for ambulances are increasing. More than one in five code 1 incidents were not responded to by paramedics within the recommended fifteen minutes. Code 1 incidents are absolutely time critical — the longer a patient has to wait the poorer the outcomes are likely to be.”
In the last financial year 77.1 per cent of code 1 incidents were responded to within fifteen minutes compared to 80.7 per cent the previous year, with a target set at 85 per cent.
“There were some positive signs though for the Department of Health,” said Dr Hemley. “For some categories of patients there were improvements in emergency department and elective surgery waiting times compared to the previous year.”
“Immunisation coverage has also increased over the last year for both two year olds and school aged children.”
The Department of Health’s annual report was tabled in Parliament yesterday. A list of key targets that were not met by the Department is attached.
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Performance Measure
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Target
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2010/11 Result
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2009/10 Result
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|
Emergency department patients transferred to a ward within 8 hours
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80%
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71%
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68%
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|
Semi-urgent (Category 2) elective surgery patients admitted within 90 days
|
80%
|
75%
|
73%
|
|
Sub-acute ambulatory care service clients contacted within three days of referral
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80%
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77%
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79%
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|
Emergency Department Category 3 patients treated in 30 minutes
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75%
|
70%
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69%
|
|
Non-admitted emergency department patients with a length of stay of less than four hours
|
80%
|
75%
|
73%
|
|
Emergency department patients admitted to a mental health bed within 8 hours
|
80%
|
70%
|
73%
|
|
Proportion of emergency (Code 1) incidents responded to within 15 minutes by paramedics
|
85%
|
77.1%
|
80.7%
|
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