By Denise Deason
THE Mercy Werribee Hospital’s emergency department is being choked with patients either unable to get in to their doctor or unable to cover the cost.
The problem is state-wide, with Victorian Government figures just released revealing the number of people attending emergency departments for semi or non-urgent procedures has risen by 25 per cent in five years.
At Mercy Werribee, 72 per cent of patients coming to the emergency department last year fell into this category.
The hospital is in the top few in Victoria with such a high percentage of non-urgent cases, with Swan Hill Hospital recording 84 per cent and Mildura 64 per cent.
The Werribee Mercy Hospital, however, reports a change in the trend.
“While the emergency department does see a substantial number of semi-urgent and non-urgent cases, a decrease in the number of these patients has been observed over the past few years,” said Annmarie Faulkner, the hospital’s director of communications.
“This may coincide with the opening of extended hours GP services in the local community.”
Pressure on the doctors and nurses in Victoria’s public hospital emergency departments to cope with the influx of patients has been building for years.
The member for Tarneit, Tim Pallas, said the number of people being able to access bulk-billing rates was lower now than 10 years ago.
“The ever-increasing burden of visiting local GPs is being placed on our health system,” he said.
“Werribee Mercy is now the first point of contact for many local residents and has seen a 43 per cent increase in emergency department presentations between 1999 and 2006.
“The hospital is performing admirably to meet this increasing demand.”
Mr Pallas said the State Government would invest a further $2.8 billion in public health in 2007-08 to meet this demand growth and cater for new initiatives.
Dr Tim Woodruff, President of the Doctors Reform Society, said part of the solution to decreasing attendances at emergency departments is to develop better primary health care.
Two-thirds of the state has fewer GPs than the accepted figure of one to 1400 people.
“The number of GPs is not keeping up with the demands of our community,” Dr Woodruff said.
“And much of the responsibility for that belongs to the Federal Government.
“There should be more students going through the medical schools of universities.
“Some areas have plenty of doctors, but they tend to be the more affluent areas.
“Overall, we still have a shortage of doctors.
“In Melbourne’s western and northern suburbs, some medical practitioners are no longer taking on new patients and this adds to the problem.”
Dr Woodruff said another area that should be looked at is developing a system where GP surgeries are open after hours, enabling more people to access them, rather than going to the hospital.
“At present, doctors and nurses in emergency departments are under stress doing their best to deal with all the patients,” he said.
