❓ Hon Adele Farina requests detailed data on emergency department attendances, admissions, ambulance activity, and triage wait times for South West hospitals in 2014 and 2015. The answer highlights data quality issues with some smaller emergency services reporting zero wait times due to recording practices.
AnsweredQoN 3506Legislative Council
QuestionView source ↗
I refer to emergency department attendances, and ask in each of 2014 and 2015 to date at each hospital in the South West, what was: (a) the total emergency department attendances by triage category; (b) the total emergency department admissions; (c) the total ambulance attendances; (d) total number of ambulance transfers to another hospital; and (e) median wait times for triage by triage category?
AnswerView source ↗
Answered
1 December 2015
Responded by
Parliamentary Secretary representing the Minister for Health
Response time
42 days
(a-e) [See tabled paper no]
A number of generally smaller Emergency Services including some sites in the broader South West Region have median waiting times of zero for all triage categories. At some sites this is due to recording identical times for the time of triaging and the time seen by nurse. The subsequent subtraction of triage time from the time seen by the nurse yields a figure of zero for the waiting time to be seen. Where this occurs in more than 50% of cases the median will be zero.
The time that the nurse sees the patient is intended to represent the time that the nurse commences treatment. Where treatment follows directly after triage a small or no waiting time is expected and for Emergency Services with low activity most patients will be able to be seen immediately after triage.
A number of generally smaller Emergency Services including some sites in the broader South West Region have median waiting times of zero for all triage categories. At some sites this is due to recording identical times for the time of triaging and the time seen by nurse. The subsequent subtraction of triage time from the time seen by the nurse yields a figure of zero for the waiting time to be seen. Where this occurs in more than 50% of cases the median will be zero.
The time that the nurse sees the patient is intended to represent the time that the nurse commences treatment. Where treatment follows directly after triage a small or no waiting time is expected and for Emergency Services with low activity most patients will be able to be seen immediately after triage.
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