CENTRAL Gippsland Health Service has recorded strong performance in a number of key areas in a State Government health report.
According to the Victorian Health Service Performance Report, CGHS admitted 3187 patients in the three months to the end of December, up from 3180 admissions in the previous three months.
The service provided a total of 8170 bed days to patients in the three months to the end of December, up from 7536 bed days for the same period in 2011.
It admitted 44 neonatal intensive care and special care nursery babies for the December quarter, up from 35 admissions in the same period in 2011.
All category one emergency patients were treated immediately on arrival at the hospital emergency department in the three months to the end of December.
It treated 94 per cent of category two patients within 10 minutes of arrival at in ED during the last three months of 2012, up from 91 per cent in the previous three months and above the statewide target of 80 per cent.
CGHS treated 83 per cent of category three patients within 30 minutes of arrival at the ED over the report period, up from 77 per cent in the previous three months and above the statewide target of 75 per cent.
Sixty-one per cent of semi-urgent category four patients were treated within an hour of arrival at the ED in the three months to the end of December, up from 52 per cent in the previous quarter.
CGHS treated 86 per cent of non-urgent category five patients within two hours of arrival at the ED during the December quarter, up from 83 per cent in the previous quarter.
Seventy-eight per cent of non-admitted emergency department patients were discharged home within the benchmark four hours, up from 75 per cent in the previous three months and better than the state average of 76 per cent.
Emergency department patients were treated within a median time of 27 minutes during the December quarter, better than the 31 minute median in the previous three months.
The emergency department had 746 patients arrive by ambulance in the three months to the end of December, up from 685 for the previous 12 months.
The service completed the transfer of 94.6 per cent of patients who arrived at the hospital in an ambulance within the target of 40 minutes, up on its 93.7 per cent transfer rate during the September quarter and better than the state average of 77.4 per cent.
CGHS board chair John Sullivan said the statistics showed a positive result, especially given the difficult financial circumstances facing the service towards the end of the quarter.
“That’s the great work of the staff in the emergency department, the wards and operational areas of the hospital that create that (positive outcomes),” he said.
“It just shows that with appropriate funding, we can deliver an appropriate and timeliness service to the community.”
State Health Minister David Davis claimed Federal Government health funding cuts at the start of the financial year had hit elective surgery patients in Victoria’s hospitals, but the figures show that just 297 patients joined the waiting list in October, November and December last year, to reach a total of 47,760 patients waiting for elective surgery on December 30.
Victoria’s elective surgery waiting list has grown by more than 10,000 patients in the past two years and patients were facing increasing waits before federal budget cuts were announced in October last year.
Patients waiting for elective surgery numbered 47,463 on September 30 last year, up from 37,194 in June 2010 under the former Labor government.
The $107 million reduction in federal funding, which the Federal Government agreed to reinstate two weeks ago, prompted hospitals to begin cancelling elective surgery and closing beds from December.
Mr Davis said the report figures showed that despite the pressures, Victoria’s most urgent elective and emergency patients continue to receive immediate attention.
“Victoria remains the only state to meet the target for 100 per cent of category one elective surgery patients, those who are most urgently in need of surgery,” he said.
“This is very positive, given the record high number of patients attending emergency departments and an increase in the number of patients receiving elective surgery.”
