Country hospitals keep up good work

Despite the underlying pressures, Victoria’s public hospitals are continuing to treat record numbers of patients, says Health Minister John Thwaites.

Victoria’s country hospitals treated 81,248 patients in the December quarter—up by 1.4 per cent on the 80,089 patients treated a year earlier.

Mr Thwaites said the latest Hospital Services Report, for the December quarter, showed ongoing pressures on the Victorian public hospital system.

‘Despite these pressures, our country hospitals continued to work admirably in treating patients,’ he said.

‘Pressures such as a shortage of nurses and a shortage of nursing home beds are hurting our hospitals but they continue to provide a high level of service.’

Mr Thwaites said the Hospital Services Report showed some improvement in Victorian hospitals’ performance with a lower number of ambulance bypasses and a shorter elective waiting list, despite a massive 47 per cent increase in the number of hospital bed-days taken up by people who needed a nursing home bed.

‘These patients need comfortable residential care, yet they are now waiting for long periods in a busy hospital ward before getting the appropriate care,’ he said.

Mr Thwaites said the December Hospital Services Report showed:

• The number of patients admitted to hospital was up two per cent since the same time last year;

• The number of blocked bed days due to elderly patients waiting a nursing home placement jumped from 10,787 to 15,848;

• Emergency presentations rose by 4.4 per cent or 166,912 cases, while Melbourne’s 12 major hospitals experienced an 8.8 per cent increase in emergency patients;

• Ambulance bypass fell from 1,108 to 843;

• Elective surgery waiting lists fell by 1.5 per cent to 43,410.

Mr Thwaites said a number of major initiatives to rebuild the public hospital system were beginning to have an impact but it would take time.

He said 1,100 nurses were returning to nursing and the Government was on target to employing an extra 1,300 nurses.

Hospitals had opened 360 extra beds and received the biggest funding boost in a decade with $176 million of new money.

• The quarterly Hospital Services Reports, designed to give the community full details on how Victoria’s public hospitals are performing and help provide a comprehensive picture of the State’s health system, are available at: www.dhs. vic.gov.au/ahs/pub.htm