MACKAY BASE HOSPITAL MEETS POPULATION GROWTH

Mackay Base Hospital is continuing to meet the needs of a growing population, the latest Queensland Health report card shows.

Health Minister Stephen Robertson said the September Quarterly Public Hospitals Performance Report released today showed the hospital was working harder than ever with 6,672 patients admitted in the September 2008 quarter, an increase of 7.4 per cent on the same period last year.

“The staff has been doing a wonderful job keeping up with the increasing workload,” Mr Robertson said.

“Of particular note is a 10.2 per cent increase in the number of outpatients treated.”

Mackay Base Hospital 20,158 outpatient appointments, an increase of 2.5 per cent on the June 2008 Quarter, but a massive 10.2 per cent increase on the September 2007 quarter..

During the September quarter 2008, Mackay Base Hospital treated 14,563 people as inpatients or emergencies an increase of 2.4 per cent during the same period last year.

In the Emergency Department, the hospital recorded 9,449 attendances in the September quarter an increase of 1.6 per cent on the 9,301 patients treated in the June quarter 2008, but a decrease of 2.2 per cent on the same quarter last year.

“With hospital admissions state-wide increasing by more than double population growth, I have endorsed the 8 point, ‘Whole-of-Hospital Plan’ developed by Senior Emergency Clinicians to reduce access block across our major public hospitals (attached) to reduce emergency department and admission waiting times even further,” Mr Robertson said.

Mr Robertson said ‘long wait’ elective surgery patients continued to decrease with 32 ‘long wait’ patients as at 1 October 2008, compared with 65 ‘long wait’ patients in the previous quarter and 84 in the September 2007 quarter..

Mr Robertson said while the State Government’s successful ‘Surgery Connect’ program was making significant inroads towards improving elective surgery waiting lists, particularly ‘long wait’ patients, there was still a way to go.

“I am committed to maintaining our momentum with elective surgery,” he said.

Mr Robertson said the $405 million redevelopment of the Mackay Base Hospital was evidence the State Government had recognised the pressure on the hospital and the need to plan for future growth.

He said outpatients had been given priority in the hospital redevelopment and would be one of the first buildings to be constructed.

“I am told the staff have recently viewed the new hospital redevelopment plan and are excited the outpatients department will be one of the first buildings to come on line,” he said.

“The new outpatient department will enable us to increase the service to our local population and to future-proof Mackay Base Hospital.

“This report shows our hospitals are working harder than ever, but the strategies this Government has put in place are making strong improvements to ensuring more Queenslanders receive the timely health care they need and deserve,” Mr Robertson said.

“I have nothing but praise for our dedicated staff and I thank them all for their hard work.

A complete version of the Queensland Public Hospitals Quarterly Performance Report (September 08 quarter) will be available in the What's New section of the Queensland Health website at http://www.health.qld.gov.au/

Ends.

MEDIA: Kate Van Poelgeest 3234 1185 or Martin Philip 3235 2680

Definitions:

Outpatient services provided = the number of outpatient and other non-admitted services minus services such as emergency, pharmacy, pathology, diagnostic imaging, community health services, district nursing services and other outreach services.

People treated as inpatients or emergencies = the number of admitted patient episodes plus the number of emergency services not resulting in admission. For example, some people will attend the Emergency Department and then be admitted to hospital. These people will only be counted once as inpatients and not counted as emergency patients for this particular figure.

People admitted to hospital = the number of admitted patient episodes of care. For example, one person might be admitted to hospital on two separate occasions, they would then be counted as two episodes of care.

People treated in emergency departments = the number of accident and emergency services provided. For example, a patient attends emergency three times, then it is counted as three separate attendances to the emergency department.

People received elective surgery = the number of people admitted for elective surgery from the elective surgery waiting list in either Category 1, 2 or 3.

People waiting for elective surgery= the number of patients waiting for elective surgery from Category 1, 2 or 3 with a status of ‘waiting’ or ‘booked’.