'Sustained' pressure on Kempsey hospital's emergency department

Bureau of Health Information (BHI) results for the first quarter (January - March) shows that Kempsey Hospital's ED attendances continue to rise.

There was an increase of 661 patients or 9.9 per cent when compared with the same three-month period of the previous year.

Kempsey Hospital is the third busiest hospital in the Mid North Coast Local Health District (MNCLHD).

Port Macquarie Base Hospital is the busiest in the MNCLHD and saw a staggering 13,250 ED attendances in the first three months of 2024.

PMBH experienced an increase of 914 ED attendances (7.4 per cent) compared to the same period last year and an increase of 311 patient numbers compared to the quarter October and December 2023.

Kempsey hospital is the busiest in its peer group, however there was a decrease of attendances via ambulance in the first quarter of this year. There were 928 attendances via ambulance, which is down 16 arrivals (1.7 per cent) compared to the same quarter last year.

There were 38,420 attendances at all four of the MNCLHD EDs throughout the first quarter of 2024, an increase of 9.2 per cent, or 3236 more attendances compared with the same quarter in 2023.

MNCLHD Chief Executive Stewart Dowrick praised the efforts of staff in providing high quality care to patients during the busy January to March period.

"We've experienced unprecedented demand for emergency care, with 38,420 attendances in the quarter, an increase of 9.2 per cent or 3,236 more attendances compared with the same quarter last year," Mr Dowrick said.

"There were increases in presentations across all triage categories - we continue to see more patients and more of the most critically ill patients."

Throughout the first quarter of 2024, the District performed 2711 planned surgery procedures, with all urgent planned procedures (100 per cent) performed on time.

"We continue to work hard to ensure planned procedures are performed as quickly as possible and it's pleasing to see reductions in the numbers of patients overdue for their surgery," Mr Dowrick said.

The number of patients waiting longer than clinically recommended for planned surgery at the end of the quarter was 293, compared with 1011 patients at the end of March 2023.

"Any patients who feel their condition has deteriorated while waiting for their procedure are encouraged to contact their treating doctor for a clinical review and they can be placed in a higher urgency category if required," Mr Dowrick said.

BHI Chief Executive Dr Diane Watson said the latest quarterly results show that NSW public hospital EDs experienced major and sustained pressure during the first quarter of 2024.

"In January to March, EDs once again saw record numbers of patients, and treated record numbers of patients with the most urgent clinical conditions," Dr Watson said.

There were 810,201 ED attendances - up 5.2 per cent from the same quarter a year earlier and the highest of any quarter since BHI began reporting in 2010. Of those, 192,874 patients arrived by ambulance - up seven per cent and also the highest ever.

There were 66.1 per cent ED attendances had their treatment start on time - down slightly from the same quarter last year. Just 55.9 per cent of patients left the ED within four hours - a record low.