Despite recording the highest number of Emergency Department (ED) attendances on record, Lismore Base Hospital has performed better than average when compared to hospitals across NSW.

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The results have been published in the latest Bureau of Information (BHI) Healthcare Quarterly report, which looks at all hospitals in the Northern NSW Local Health District (NNSWLHD).

Across the District, ED attendances returned to pre-pandemic levels during January to March 2021, with an increase of 814, or 1.5%, to 55,303 attendances compared with the same quarter in 2020.

This is NNSWLHD’s second highest number of ED attendances for any quarter on record.  

Lismore Base

In the Lismore Base ED, there were 10,582 attendances during the January to March 2021 quarter, up 4.4% (or 443 more attendances) on the same quarter in 2020. This is the highest number of ED attendances on record for the hospital.  

Triage category 1 (resuscitation) presentations increased 38.6%, up 17 presentations to 61 for the quarter, while triage category 2 (emergency) presentations increased by 24.4%, up 255 to a total of 1301 presentations. 

The median wait time to treatment in triage category 2 (emergency) was seven minutes. 

The hospital reported 1160 elective surgeries were performed, down 8.6%, or 109 procedures, on the same quarter in 2020. Nearly all (99.2%) of 363 urgent surgeries were performed on time.  

The District

Across the whole NNSWLHD district, Increases in presentations were seen in both the triage category 1 (resuscitation), with 11.1% more presentations (up by 26 to 260) compared with the same quarter in 2020.

In the triage category 2 (emergency), there were 12.1% more presentations (up 634 to 5865) across the District.  

Despite the increased pressure on the EDs, 74.6% of patients left the ED within four hours, which is above the NSW average of 67.6%. The median wait time to start treatment for triage category 2 (emergency) patients was eight minutes, two minutes below the NSW target of 10 minutes. 

Trends across the State

NNSWLHD Chief Executive Wayne Jones said trends in hospital activity and performance echoed the experience around the state.  

“The efforts of our workforce over the last 15 months has been outstanding despite increased patient presentations, and additional challenges and changes as a result of COVID. It has not been easy but our workforce has risen to the challenge,” Mr Jones said. 

In the January to March 2021 quarter, 3,499 elective surgeries were performed, an increase of 2% (or 70 more procedures) compared with the same quarter in 2020 prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. Almost all (99.2%) of the 757 urgent elective surgeries were performed on time.  

“We’re focused on reducing our elective surgery wait list which was impacted by National Cabinet’s temporary pause on non-urgent surgeries in March last year. Our elective surgery activity is now back up to where it was pre-pandemic thanks to the outstanding efforts of our staff."

“We’re looking at alternative models to improve the flow of surgical activity around the District, including accommodating our post-operative patient recovery at smaller sites such as Casino and Ballina to free up capacity in Lismore. 

“We are also working closely with private hospitals in the region to provide additional surgical capacity for local patients.” 

Since March 2020, the NSW Government has committed more than $3 billion to increase the capacity of the health system, including $458.5 million to fast-track elective surgeries. This boost in funding has helped bring the 2020-21 Health budget to a record $29.3 billion. 

The 2020-21 budget for Northern NSW Local Health District was more than $926 million – an increase of almost $39 million, on the 2019-20 budget. 

Between mid-2012 and mid-2020, the Northern NSW Local Health District increased its workforce by an additional 1008 full time equivalent staff – an increase of 26.7% – including 171 more doctors, 367 more nurses and midwives, and 121 more allied health staff.