More Patients Treated: Reportshowsanglisshospital Is Working Hard

Media release

From the Minister for Health

Thursday, 29 April, 2010

MORE PATIENTS TREATED: REPORTSHOWSANGLISSHOSPITAL IS WORKING HARD

Additional investment in the health system will allow Victorian public hospitals to treat more patients and treat them more quickly, Health Minister Daniel Andrews said today.

Releasing the latest Your Hospitals report today, Mr Andrews said the statistics highlighted the importance of recent Government funding commitments and the need to continue growing and improving health services.

“All health systems are facing the pressure of a growing and ageing population, and the challenge is to meet that demand,” Mr Andrews said.

“This report shows that almost 10,000 additional Victorians were admitted to Victorian hospitals between July-December 09.

“Our doctors and nurses are working hard to provide the very best care to all Victorian patients, and with a major $45 million funding boost from the Brumby Labor Government earlier this month, hospitals and health services are even better-equipped to respond to the increasing number of patients needing care.

“This investment means that an extra 9,000 patients can receive their elective surgery more quickly.”

Your Hospitals shows the AnglissHospital performed strongly, with:

• 12,472 patients admitted in the six months to the end of December – up by 677 patients on the number admitted in the previous six months.
• 1658 patients given their elective surgery in the six months to the end of December – up by 98 patients , or 6%, on the number in the previous six months.
• 431 Category 1 urgent patients given their elective surgery in the six months to the end of December – up by 93 elective surgery operations, or 28%, on the same period the previous year.

• All 431 Category 1 urgent elective surgery patients who were given their operations at the hospital in the 6 months to the end of December were admitted within the benchmark 30 days.
• 743 Category 2 semi-urgent elective surgery patients received their operations in the six months to the end of December – 4 more operations than were delivered in the previous 6 months – an increase of 1%.
• 81% of Category 2 elective surgery patients were given their operations within the benchmark 90 days in the 6 months to the end of December – better than the target of 80%.
• 97% of Category 3 non-urgent elective surgery patients were given their operations within the benchmark 365 days in the 6 months to the end of December – better than the target of 90%.
• A reduction of 23 patients on the Category 1 urgent elective surgery waiting lists at the end of December – down from the 32 patients waiting six months earlier. All received their surgery within 30 days
• A reduction of 32 patients on the Category 2 semi urgent elective surgery waiting lists at the end of December – down from the 296 patients waiting six months earlier.
• On bypass just 0.2% of the time in the 6 months to the end of December – well below the State benchmark of 3%, and an improvement on the 1% bypass rate in the previous 6 months.
• 100% of Category 1 emergency patients treated immediately on arrival at the hospital ED in the six months to the end of December.
• 83% of Category 2 patients treated within 10 minutes of arrival at the ED in the six months to December – exceeding the national benchmark of 80%.
• 80% of Category 3 patients treated within 30 minutes of arrival at the ED in the six months to December – exceeding the national benchmark of 75%.
• 20,628 patients seen in the ED in the six months to the end of December – up by 551 patients, or 3%, on the previous six months.
• 82% of ED patients admitted to a ward bed were admitted within 8 hours of arrival – exceeding the national benchmark of 80%, and an improvement of 6 percentage points on the same period in 2008.
• 80% of ED patients who did not need hospital admission were treated and discharged within 4 hours – meeting the national benchmark of 80%, and an improvement of 3 percentage points on the same period in 2008.

Mr Andrews said the report showed more than 30,000 additional Victorians had been treated in Victorian emergency departments in the six months to December 2009, compared to the same period last year.

“More than 18,000 additional urgent patients were treated within clinical benchmark times in Victorian emergency departments in the six months to December 2009, compared to the same period last year,” he said.

“This represents a seven per cent increase in patients in higher acuity categories requiring more urgent care than for the July-Dec 2008 period, so people are increasingly presenting with more complex needs.”

Mr Andrews said the report showed Victorian hospitals were now performing more than 41,000 extra elective surgery procedures than in 2000.

“Our dedicated staff completed more than 153,000 elective surgery operations in 2009,” he said.

“But there are challenges. Five hospitals failed to treat a combined total of 53 Category 1 elective surgery patients within the recommended 30-day timeframe – representing less than 0.2 per cent of all urgent elective surgery patients who received treatment.

“While Victoria’s performance in this measure compares favourably with other states and territories, the statistics underline the need for the continual growth and expansion of health services.

“Our Government has already committed an extra $3 million to build a new operating theatre and expand surgical capacity at the RoyalMelbourneHospital – the nation’s busiest hospital.

“Last week’s important COAG agreement will inject more than $1billion into the Victorian health system over the next four years, and locks in at least $3.8billion more in the years beyond, commitments which will help grow our system and give patients even better access to quality services, regardless of where they live.”

Media contact: Jason Frenkel 9651 5799 / 0438 361 865