By ANEEKA SIMONIS
A BERWICK hospital is meeting state benchmarks with its improved ambulance and emergency health response times.
The Victorian Health Services Performance report for the June quarter found patients being transferred to Casey Hospital in Berwick were arriving faster than in previous years and that more patients were being treated more quickly.
According to the report, 90 per cent of patients who arrived at the hospital in an ambulance were transferred within the 40 minute target during the June quarter, up on its 74.7 per cent transfer rate in June 2013 and meeting the state-wide benchmark of 90 per cent.
The hospital also admitted 3143 more patients in the three months leading up to June, totalling 10,555 patients this year up from 7412 during last year’s quarter.
Emergency patients admitted into the hospital almost doubled from 2985 patients during the June 2013 quarter to 4846 during the same period this year.
One hundred per cent of the hospital’s 485 category one elective surgery patients were also treated within the 30 day benchmark period during the quarter.
“The June report confirms that the initiatives introduced to our public hospital system by the Victorian Coalition Government are working,” said Minister for Health David Davis who said the improvement in transfer times was because of the reform of the Ambulance Transfer Taskforce by the state Coalition late last year.
“These figures show that there has been a significant drop in ambulance transfer times to hospital; that record numbers of patients are receiving their elective surgery (and) waiting lists are at their lowest for four years,” he said.
Casey Hospital’s transfer response time beats the state average, with 88.5 per cent of transfers completed within 40 minutes, up from 76 per cent in the June 2013 quarter across the state.
“Doctors, nurses, hospital administrators and support staff should be congratulated for their work in improving performance and treating more patients, more quickly,” Mr Davis said.
However, rapid response rates across the state have failed to meet their benchmark, with Ambulance Victoria responding to 73.7 per cent of code-one emergency cases within 15 minutes, which is less than the 85 per cent target.
“The Napthine Government has announced an average 5.1 per cent increase in bottom-line funding for our hospitals in 2014-15, which will help to further boost this performance,” Mr Davis said.
