More patients receive care at Rockhampton Hospital

More patients were cared for at the Central Queensland Health Service District in the December quarter than this time last year, the latest Queensland Health report card shows.

Health Minister Stephen Robertson said the increased activity demonstrated the impact of the additional $10 billion Health Action Plan funding which is expanding the capacity of our public hospitals throughout Queensland.

Mr Robertson said the December 2008 Quarterly Public Hospitals Performance Report shows 14,196 people were treated as inpatients or emergencies at Rockhampton Hospital, 4 per cent more than the same quarter in 2007.

“At the same time, elective surgical waiting lists have reduced, with 645 patients admitted from the list, up from 595 in the same period the previous year,” he said.

“The most marked increases in activity occurred in elective surgery for category one patients, where two patients have been waiting longer than 30 days for surgery.

“This is a decrease of 32.2 per cent from the 28 category 1 patients who were waiting for their surgery at January 1, 2008.”

Mr Robertson said emergency department doctors and nurses at Rockhampton Hospital treated 10,259 patients in the December quarter.

“This represents a marked increase from the 9,761 people (5.1 per cent) who attended the ED in the same quarter the previous year,” he said.

“Rockhampton Hospital’s busy emergency department treats an average of 111 people a day, meaning a patient is being treated an average of every 15 minutes.

“In the December quarter, Rockhampton Hospital admitted 6,067 people compared with 6,130 for the same period last year. This is a decrease of 63 admissions.

Mr Robertson said the hospitals’ operating theatres were also busy, with surgeons performing 557 emergency and 757 elective surgery procedures.

“This compares with 595 emergency procedures and 700 elective surgery procedures performed in the same period the previous year,” he said.

Mr Robertson said the slight drop in the number of emergency surgery procedures had allowed for more elective surgeries to be scheduled.

“Surgeons and other clinical staff at Rockhampton Hospital have worked hard during the past year to improve the overall numbers of people undergoing elective surgery procedures, and I want to congratulate them for their efforts,” he said.

“About 50 per cent of Category One patients received their treatment within 16 days and 90 per cent were treated within 33 days, and I’m confident there will be further improvement to these figures.

Mr Robertson said patients would also benefit from the appointment of a new surgeon, Dr Alan Atherstone, who started work at the hospital in January, 2009.

In the three months to December 31, 2008, compared to the same quarter in 2007, Queensland hospitals provided:

• A 3.2 per cent increase (or 11,744 more patients) in the number of people treated in emergency departments

• A 5.9 per cent increase (or 12,284 more patients) in the number of people admitted to hospital

• An 8.4 per cent increase (or 8,520 more patients) in the number of people admitted for same day care in a hospital

• A 3.6 per cent increase (or 3,764 more patients) in the number of people admitted for more than one day

• A 0.4 per cent increase (or 3,074 more appointments) in the number of outpatient services provided

• A 6.8 per cent increase (or 1,950 more patients) in the number of people receiving elective surgery, and

• A 4.8 per cent increase (or 482 more babies) in the number of babies born

Mr Robertson said staffing continued to grow strongly. Since 2005 Queensland Health has employed:

• 1,715 more doctors, a 38 per cent increase to 6,267
• 5,778 more nurses, a 26 per cent to 27,689, and
• 2,134 more health practitioners, professional and technical staff, up 31 per cent to 9,068.

Mr Robertson said the quarterly performance report reflected the hard work and commitment of the dedicated Queensland Health staff across the state, and he commended their efforts in providing quality health care to people in their communities.

The Queensland Public Hospitals Performance Report December Quarter 2008 is available on Queensland Health’s website at www.health.qld.gov.au

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.

Category 1 – Urgent

Admission within 30 days desirable for a condition that has the potential to deteriorate quickly to the point that it may become an emergency.

Category 2 – Semi-urgent

Admission within 90 days desirable for a condition causing some pain, dysfunction or disability, but which is not likely to deteriorate quickly or become an emergency.

Category 3 – Non-urgent

Admission at some time in the future acceptable for a condition causing minimal or no pain, dysfunction or disability, which is unlikely to deteriorate quickly and which does not have the potential to become an emergency.

Long-wait

Term applied to any waiting time that exceeds the recommendation for that category.

ENDS

MEDIA: Kate Van Poelgeest 3234 1185 or 0458 449 267