By Charlene Gatt
FOOTSCRAY’S Western Hospital has faster patient transfer times than the state average, but spends more time on hospital bypass, according to two new State Government reports.
In the Patient Transfer Times report for July to December 2010, 39 per cent of transfers at Western Hos-pital took longer than 20 minutes, 19 per cent took longer than 30 minutes, 10 per cent took longer than 40 minutes and four per cent took over an hour.
Patient transfer time is the time taken to transfer a patient from an ambulance to a hospital after the ambulance has arrived.
Meanwhile, Western Hospital was on bypass 2.7 per cent of the time between July to December 2010, according to the Hospital Bypass and Hospital Early Warning System report – above the state average of 2.3 per cent.
Bypass is a period of time when a hospital’s emergency department can request that ambulances bypass it and take patients to other hospitals because it is filled to capacity and cannot safely accommodate and treat more patients.
Urgent patients are still accepted when a hospital is on bypass.
The hospital also had 23 Hospital Early Warning System incidences, where the workload within the emergency department was so high that bypass would be reached within the next hour.
Health Minister David Davis said the data proved a need for improvement.
“For too long many of these statistics were hidden from public scrutiny, but the government is determined to ensure that people can get a realistic picture on how the system is performing,” he said.
“(This) reveals serious issues at the emergency department/ambulance interface. This was a cover-up.
“The Baillieu Government is determined to ensure there is sustainable and lasting improvement.”
The government will provide a wider range of information about hospital activity and performance in Victoria through a new website.
A spokesperson for Western Health would not comment on the hospital bypass figures, but said Western Hospital had done comparatively well in patient transfer times.
“The patient transfer times continue to be quite good, although there’s obviously a case for continuing improvement, we’re always trying to improve them further,” the spokesperson said.
“Western Health staff work closely with Ambulance Victoria and they’re aware that it’s very important to transfer the patients from the ambulance as soon as possible.”
