More patients receive care at The Prince Charles Hospital

The Prince Charles Hospital’s (TPCH) new emergency department doctors and nurses saw nearly 2000 more patients in the December quarter 2008 than presented in the December quarter 2007, 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.

The December 2008 Quarterly Public Hospitals Performance Report released today shows patient flow into the emergency department increased 31.6 percent from 6,319 patients in the December quarter 2007, to 8,317 in the December quarter last year.

“Emergency department attendances at the Prince Charles Hospital continue to grow strongly, and staff are responding well to the increased number of presentations,” he said.

“In the past three months 12,937 people were treated as inpatients or emergencies, an increase of 18.2 percent from the 10,942 treated in the same period last year.

“Patient episodes of care were up 9.1 percent and the 23,934 outpatient occasions of service represents a 1.4 percent increase on last year’s figures.

Mr Robertson said he was particularly pleased with the 4.4 percent increase in the number of patients treated from the elective surgery waiting list over the previous quarter.

“We have admitted 1,011 patients from the elective surgery waiting list, 43 more than in the September quarter and 25 more than in the corresponding quarter in 2007,” he said.

“What is most important is that only six category one patients waited more than 30 days for their surgery compared to 12 at this time last year and only two category 3 patients were waiting more than a year compared with 13 at January 1, 2008.”

Mr Robertson said there were 33 category 2 patients waiting more than 90 days at January 1 this year, the same number as at the same time last year.

Of the category 1 patients treated at TPCH in the December quarter, half were treated within four days and 90 percent within 21 days.

Half of the category 2 patients were treated within 40 days and 90 percent within 100 days.

Of the category three patients, half were treated within 49 days and 90 percent within 144 days.

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 September 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