Flu lengthening hospital waiting times (smh)

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'Flu' lengthening hospital waiting times

January 14, 2008 - 1:50PM

A spike in waiting times at some NSW hospital emergency departments is

partly due to a particularly virulent strain of the flu, the

government says.

Critically ill patients were last year forced to wait a combined 718

days on trolleys outside hospital emergency departments, figures from

the NSW Ambulance Service show.

The statistics, for P1 category patients such as road accident, stroke

and stabbing victims, monitor the time it takes for people rushed to

hospital by ambulance to be admitted.

Gosford, Royal Prince Alfred, Wollongong, Royal North Shore and

Liverpool Hospitals had the longest waiting lists, News Limited reported.

" These figures cover last year's winter, which was one of the coldest

in the past 20 years with a particularly virulent strain of the flu, "

a spokeswoman for Health Minister Reba Meagher said.

But opposition health spokeswoman Jillian Skinner said the waiting

times highlighted " systemic problems " in hospitals that were putting

lives at risk.

" These figures show people's lives are being put at risk, and they

should act as a wake-up call for (Premier) Iemma and Reba

Meagher, who have been telling anyone who will listen that the

hospital system is in a healthy state, " Ms Skinner said in a statement.

" These are not patients with sprained ankles or the flu, these are the

sickest of the sick - minutes wasted in getting to specialist hospital

treatment can lead to an increase in serious complications, result in

prolonged hospital stays, or compound the original life-threatening

condition.

" Emergency departments are blocked because extremely sick patients

needing to be admitted for treatment can't be found a ward bed. "

Emergency departments always gave priority to life-threatening cases,

the government spokeswoman said.

" NSW hospitals continue to treat 100 per cent of the most seriously

ill within the designated two-minute timeframe, " she said.

" The NSW government recognises that there are pressure points in the

system and that's why late last year we released a $50 million

recurrent funding package which injects an extra 150 acute care beds

into the system. "

Paramedics faced " enormous frustration " having to wait at hospitals,

Ambulance chief Greg Rochford said.

" Hospitals and the health system in NSW and around the country need to

do a great deal more to fast-track the way in which patients are

assessed and moved on for treatment, " Mr Rochford told Macquarie Radio.

" It's certainly not satisfactory to keep ambulances waiting and it's

certainly not satisfactory to keep patients waiting around emergency

departments. No doctor, no nurse, no paramedic will tell you otherwise. "

http://news.smh.com.au/flu-lengthening-hospital-waiting-times/20080114-1lrs.html