Orange Hospital falls short of emergency department benchmarks

The AMA's 'Clear the Logjam' campaign released score cards and 'traffic light' ratings for all public hospitals across Australia.

Among the major issues experience in Orange were a number of 'red light' ratings for emergency department response times.

Compared to hospitals across the Central West, Orange managed just one 'green light' - for resuscitation - the equal-lowest alongside Bathurst and Mudgee.

Orange also received two red lights for its urgent and semi-urgent responses.

Two yellow lights were given for emergency and non-urgent care.

The AMA said shortfalls in funding is the major reason behind the problems.

"A lack of government funding is resulting in public hospitals that are in logjam - with ambulances ramping, emergency departments at capacity, and long waits for essential surgery," the report said.

"There are just not enough beds or staff to deal with the demand.

"This isn't just a COVID-19 problem. And it isn't new. The performance of our public hospitals has been declining for several years and after years of continued neglect, they are now at breaking point."

In a breakdown of response times in triage order, 100 per cent of patients were seen immediately for resuscitation; for emergency 92 per cent of patients were seen within the accepted 10-minute window.

The urgent response time - where patients need treatment within 30 minutes - resulted in a 'red light', with patients receiving care 73 per cent of the time.

When it can to semi-urgent - which needs treatment within one hour - Orange received another 'red light', withf 74 per cent of patients receiving treatment on time.

Orange received a 'yellow light' when it came to non-urgent - which requires treatment within two hours - with 92 per cent of patients receiving treatment on time.

Elective surgery scored reasonably well, with urgent (within 30 days) receiving a 'green light' with a score of 100 per cent.

Semi-urgent, which requires treatment within 90 days received a 'yellow light' with a score of 94 per cent.

Non-urgent elective surgery - which requires treatment within 365 days - received a 'red light' with a score of 74 per cent.

Comparatively, Bathurst Base Hospital has one of the worst rated emergency departments in the Central West.

Bathurst received three red lights - the equal-lowest with Mudgee- for its emergency, urgent and semi-urgent responses.

Dubbo Hospital also received three red lights for its emergency, urgent and semi-urgent responses. It also received two red lights for its elective surgery wait times for semi-urgent and non-urgent.

The AMA said the results speak of the dire situation within NSW hospitals.

"Our hospitals no longer have capacity to surge and meet increased demand - which means exhausted hospital staff must work harder and patients have their care delayed, sometimes for many months," the campaign said.

"But their care can't wait any longer. Urgent action is needed now.

"Our health system needs to be funded for the future, to fix the current logjams, and keep Australians healthy and out of hospitals."

A Western NSW Local Health District spokesperson said patients in all hospitals across the district, including Orange Hospital, continue to receive high-quality and safe care amid sustained high demand for emergency department services.

"Our skilled and dedicated staff across the district work hard to provide the best care to the community and we are grateful for their exceptional efforts," they said.

The spokesperson patients are seen in the order of priority.

"As is always the case with emergency department presentations, patients are seen in order of clinical priority and not time of arrival. The most seriously unwell patients are treated first," they said.

"During busy periods those with less urgent conditions will wait longer as seriously unwell patients are prioritised. We thank the community for their patience, and apologise to those that have waited longer than usual in the ED."

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