Dr. Hames asks about emergency department waiting times and specialist outpatient waiting lists in WA public hospitals as of December 31, 2007. The Minister provides data on both, noting limitations in data collection and interpretation.

AnsweredQoN 3243Legislative Assembly
Asked
1 April 2008
Portfolio
Health

QuestionView source ↗

Can the Minister advise the following:
(a) what was the average waiting time to be treated by a doctor within a designated emergency department in the Western Australian public health system at 31 December 2007; and
(b) what was the number of patients on a waiting list to see a specialist at 31 December 2007?

AnswerView source ↗

Answered
1 May 2008
Responded by
Minister for Health
Response time
30 days
(a) The average waiting time to be treated by a doctor
1
within a designated emergency department in the Western Australian public health system at 31 December 2007 was 25 minutes (median) or 44 minutes (mean)
2
.
(b) As at 31 December 2007 there were 13,615
3
patients waiting
4
to be seen by a specialist at a surgical outpatient clinic at metropolitan public hospitals
5
.
Notes:
1. Doctor for metropolitan hospitals and earliest of doctor or nurse for rural hospitals.
2. The data source is the Department of Health's Emergency Department Data Collection. Data were prepared on 17 March 2008.
3. Patients may have more than one referral; each referral is counted in this number and therefore individual patients may be counted more than once.
4. Patients are waitlisted to an outpatient clinic and an appointment is advised four to six weeks before the due date.
5. Outpatient referrals information not supplied to the Department of Health's source databases by country hospitals or Joondalup and Peel Health Campuses.
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