ED attendances up six a day at hospital

Rockingham General Hospital has had an increase in emergency department attendances of almost 5 per cent in the first quarter of 2016 compared with the same period last year.

According to the WA Health Department, the increase equates to 605 more attendances from January-March.

Hospital executive director Geraldine Carlton said on average, the hospital was dealing with an extra six presentations a day.

“Rockingham General Hospital is focused on providing safe, high quality and accessible care to the local community,” she said.

“As a general hospital located in a fast-growing community, we see more than 54,000 presentations a year to our emergency department. We have implemented several initiatives, such as the introduction of a transit lounge for patients and a navigator role in the ED to improve the patient journey, experience and access.

“With paediatric presentations making up almost one-third of our annual ED presentations, we have a dedicated paediatric area within the department so parents can feel comfortable knowing their local hospital is well equipped to provide a quality emergency service for children.”

The Australian Medical Association acknowledges that emergency department activity across most metropolitan and regional hospitals in Western Australia has surged, with several hospitals regularly declaring Code Yellow, representing infrastructure and other internal emergencies, or going on bypass.

AMA WA president Andrew Miller said against the backdrop of increasing high demand, the WA Government continued to tighten spending on frontline healthcare. “Patients should not be made to suffer as a result of bad spending decisions,” he said.

RGH has trebled in size since it was established in 1976 and now provides a range of general medical, surgical and mental health services to the community.

In a year, the hospital treats more than 23,000 inpatients and 94,000 outpatients.