Pharmacy Daily | ED trends’ reports show care issues

TWO new reports by the Bureau of Health Information (BHI) have confirmed what peak pharmacy bodies have been saying for a while - that people are turning up at NSW emergency departments (EDs) in record numbers needing the most urgent care, as they can't get to treatment from a GP in a reasonable amount of time.

The latest results of the Emergency Department Patient Survey reflect the experiences of more than 21,000 people who attended one of 77 large EDs in NSW from Jul 2022 to Jun 2023.

Of the 77 large EDs included in the survey, 41 were in rural areas and the report included special insights into the experiences of patients who visited those hospitals between Jan and Mar 2023.

Around one-third (34%) thought, at the time of their visit to a large rural ED, that their condition could 'definitely' (15%) or 'to some extent' (19%) have been treated by a GP or other health professional.

Of those 34% of respondents, the most common reasons given for not seeing a GP or other health professionals were that those services were closed; or they couldn't get an appointment within a reasonable amount of time.

The majority of patients who did show up at EDs across NSW reported positively about the care they received in 2022-23, said BHI's Chief Executive Dr Diane Watson.

"Despite EDs being busy, patients' ratings for most survey questions were similar to the previous year," said Watson.

Almost nine in 10 patients (87%) said, overall, their care was 'very good' (60%) or 'good' (27%).

"However, there was significant variation in results for individual hospitals," she added.

Also released today, the Healthcare Quarterly report confirmed that during the Oct to Dec 2023 quarter, demand for ED services in NSW remained high.

"Hospitals are treating more patients with the most urgent clinical conditions, with a record number of triage 1 and 2 presentations to NSW EDs in Oct to Dec 2023," said Watson.

Despite this, the report showed that there has been continued improvement in wait time for patients, following record long waits in mid-2022.

However, many patients reported long wait times with just 58.1% leaving within four hours. JG