AMA (NSW) President welcomes safer backyard pool laws
March 11, 2016AMA (NSW) President: COAG offers little comfort to NSW Patients
April 1, 2016For the second year in a row, NSW hospitals have seen a record number of emergency patients in the fourth quarter, new Bureau of Health Information figures show.
AMA (NSW) President, Dr Saxon Smith, says this highlights the dangerous mistake the Federal Government will be making when it cuts health funding next year.
“Since the 2014 Federal Budget, the AMA has been warning of the fiscal cliff hospitals are headed for, come July 2017.
“That is when the health cuts announced in 2014 will hit home in earnest and hospitals around the country will be left short-changed.
“In NSW, we’re set to lose the equivalent of five-and-a-half Westmead Hospitals.
“And, as the Bureau of Health Information has shown, it’s coming at a time when we’re seeing record attendances at hospital emergency departments,” Dr Smith said.
“Since 2010, the number of people presenting at NSW emergency departments has increased by more than 20 per cent.
“In the fourth quarter of 2015, there were more than 660,000 presentations at NSW emergency departments, or 112,000 additional emergency patients than at the same time in 2010.
“To put it in perspective, the population of NSW has only grown by about five per cent since then, or about 400,000 people,” Dr Smith said.
“As the BHI has repeatedly shown, the main driver of these increases is patients who require the most urgent treatment.
“At the same time, patients requiring less urgent care continue to dwindle in number.
“This means hospitals aren’t just seeing more patients but we’re also seeing sicker patients that require more complex treatment,” Dr Smith said.
“Meanwhile, NSW hospitals continue their incremental drift away from performance targets.
“Even ones that were previously improving, like the number of patients treated in emergency departments within four hours, have begun to decline.
“Hospital staff are working more efficiently than ever but they are just swamped with demand,” Dr Smith said.
“Once again, we’ve seen a drop in the total number of elective surgeries performed but an increase in waiting times for surgery.
“This may be related to the massive jump in demand for emergency treatment, as elective surgery can get delayed when there are patients that require urgent attention,” Dr Smith said.
“The Federal Government has been saying that the states need to pay for health – they can’t.
“The Federal Government has been saying health spending is unsustainable – it isn’t.
“The Federal Government has chosen to make cuts to spending based on economics, not the interests or healthcare needs of Australians.
“Its cuts will be hitting in full force next year and that means you can expect even longer waits for hospital treatment,” Dr Smith said.
Media contact: Lachlan Jones (02) 9902 8113 / 0419 402 955