State hospitals are drowning in demand

AMA (NSW) President, Dr Saxon Smith, says skyrocketing demand for public hospital services from sicker patients is the biggest problem facing healthcare in the state.

“Demand for public hospital services is growing faster than ever before but hospital capacity and bed numbers as a proportion of population are not improving.

“In fact, it has been largely the same for years and in 2013-14 there were the lowest number of beds available for patient admission from emergency departments in five years.

“Despite this, our hospitals are working so efficiently their on-time treatment rates are improving and this is due to the wonderful work of our doctors and hospital staff.

“But we cannot keep this up – our members are telling us that more needs to be done to improve hospital capacity to treat patients.

“At the same time we need to reduce demand for hospital-based care by innovative ideas like better engagement with general practice and improving and providing greater access to out of hospital palliative care,” Dr Smith said.

“Another part of the problem is that patients aren’t just increasing in number, they’re presenting at hospital in worse shape than ever.

“Every time the Bureau of Health Information releases a report, the proportion of triage 1 and 2 patients – the most acutely ill – presenting at emergency departments increases.

“These increases have been happening steadily and repeatedly over the course of the past few years.

“This means that since the BHI started recording its figures in 2010, the number of triage one patients has increased by more than 25 per cent and there are more than one and a half times as many triage 2 patients today as there were back then.

“Triage 2 patients now account for 12% of overall presentations at NSW hospital emergency departments but four years ago they only made up 9% of the total.

“At the same time, the number of patients in the least urgent triage category has been declining.

“This means that it isn’t people with minor ailments ‘clogging up’ emergency departments that are to blame for waits for treatment.

“It is that large numbers of very sick people are attending hospital and there are no beds to admit them to.

“For this reason there is no simple fix for the problem – it involves whole of hospital changes, investment in hospital capacity as well as investment in primary care to keep people healthier and out of hospital,” Dr Smith said.

“The Federal Government would have you believe that cost and sustainability are the biggest problems facing healthcare right now.

“That’s not the case, as spending on health as a proportion of the overall budget at both Commonwealth and State levels has remained steady for years.

“The biggest problem facing our healthcare system actually springs from the unprecedented demand for healthcare services,” Dr Smith said.

AMA (NSW) 2015 Election Priorities for Health

Improving Access to Health Services (PDF)

Enhancing End of Life Care (PDF)

Providing Health Funding Certainty (PDF)

Increasing GP Involvement in the Public Hospital System (PDF)

Providing World-Class Medical Education and Training (PDF)

Increasing the Involvement of Medical Practitioners in Decision-Making (PDF)

Improving Health Outcomes Through Public Health Initiatives (PDF)

Improving the Health of Rural and Regional Communities in NSW (PDF)

Media contact: Lachlan Jones (02) 9902 8113 / 0419 402 955