More people seeking help in ED, Bureau of Health Information reveals

New South Wales has seen record high numbers for emergency department (ED) attendances and ambulance responses according to the Bureau of Health Information - and presentations to our local hospital followed the trend. The BHI released their first quarterly report for 2024 and numbers show an increase in demand on the healthcare system around NSW. From the start of January to the end of March 810,201 people attended an emergency department around the state - the highest of any quarter since BHI started reporting in 2010. At Forbes, ED attendances increased 13.1 per cent to 2233 compared to 1975 last year. There was a significant increase in Forbes with 25.9 per cent more patients arriving to ED by ambulance. It's taken a toll on treatment times with the number of patients leaving the ED within the recommended four hour timeframe decreasing since last year. In NSW 55.9 per cent of patients spent less than four hours in the ED, the lowest since 2010, and one in 10 patients spent nearly 11 hours in the ED. On average 69.5 per cent of patients in rural hospitals are leaving ED within four hours. Forbes is performing significantly better with 85.5 per cent of patients leaving ED within four hours although this has fallen 3.1 per cent compared to the same period last year. Of all attendees who arrived at the ED at Forbes Hospital 1877 were treated and discharged (up 12.7 per cent), 142 were treated and admitted to hospital (down 5.3 per cent), 67 were transferred to another hospital (up 31.4 per cent) and 144 left without or before being treated (up 35.8 per cent). More than 17,000 of these responses were priority 1A or life-threatening which is another record level of activity. There was an increase of 23.8 per cent in Forbes for admitted patient episodes of care with 1102 patients, the average length of stay for overnight episodes was 5.2 days which is up 0.7 days. In the state admitted patient episodes also increased by 2.7 per cent with 481,335 patients for the period. The average length of stay for overnight episodes was six days which is down by 0.3 days compared to last year but is up 0.4 days compared to before the pandemic. There was an increase of acute overnight, non-acute and mental health patients in the state. Minister for Health, Ryan Park recognised that our hospitals are currently confronted with unprecedented pressure and it is becoming more difficult to access a GP. The number of GPs in NSW has fallen by more than 500, leading a national shortage and contributing to the record numbers in ED attendances in the state. "We are undertaking the structural reforms to our health system to ensure our community receives the care they need and deserve - by delivering the single largest boost to our workforce in the history of our health system, and creating more pathways to treatment and care outside the hospital," Mr Park said. "I want to extend my sincere gratitude to our dedicated frontline staff who continued to perform exceptionally well throughout this extremely busy period."