Canberra hospitals' emergency department performance worsening

It caps off a horror few months for Canberra's hospitals dealing with regular surges in demand and at times forced to use corridor beds.

The March to June ACT Health quarterly report to be released on Friday showed fewer emergency department patients triaged as emergency, urgent and semi-urgent were seen on time compared with the same time last year.

That trend has been apparent for a number of years.

For the first time since the quarterly data was made available, the number of urgent patients seen on time dipped below 30 per cent - well off the 70 per cent target.

The report showed 71 per cent of emergency, 28 per cent of urgent, 44 per cent of semi-urgent and 80 per cent of non-urgent patients were seen on time. All resuscitation patients continued to be treated on time.

The median wait times for urgent, semi-urgent and non-urgent patients increased in the quarter. The number of patients to come to emergency departments increased by 3 per cent.

The figures suggest the territory's yearly performance for 2018-19, which will be compared with other states and territories later in the year, will again drop.

Australian Institute of Health and Welfare figures from 2017-18 showed the ACT had the worst performance in the country in most emergency triage categories.

Canberra Hospital's emergency department has come under increased pressure this year, going onto ambulance bypass mode at least three times.

The corridors have also been regularly lined with beds.

Elective surgery performance remained mostly steady during the quarter except for a 4 per cent drop in the number of non-urgent patients who got surgery within appropriate time-frames.

The report showed an increase in elective surgeries performed for the quarter - contributing to a record number of procedures performed in 2018-19 overall.

The report shows 3722 surgeries were performed, up by 18 per cent than the previous quarter, while 4088 people were added to the list.

It also showed an increase in presentations to nurse-led walk-in centres with a record 16,900 for the quarter.

MORE HEALTH NEWS:

Health Minister Rachel Stephen-Smith said the government was investing in emergency departments.

"Wait times for some of our frontline health services such as our emergency departments and for elective surgery continue to be a challenge, as they are for all jurisdictions," she said.

"The territory-wide surgical services team is developing a more patient centred approach to overdue patients, in line with the Canberra Health Services timely care strategy.

"The team is also partnering with private facilities and southern NSW to meet current strong demand.

"We are continuing to invest in our emergency departments by funding additional doctors at the Canberra Hospital emergency department and the expansion of Calvary's emergency department.

"Across our health system, staff work incredibly hard every day to ensure Canberrans receive the best possible health care.

"We'll continue to invest in our health services, infrastructure and staff to deliver better health care, when and where Canberrans need it."