“Of the district’s 15 hospitals captured in the BHI report, 10 ranked perfectly for performing elective surgeries on time, which is fantastic to see,” HNELHD chief executive Michael DiRienzo said.

The best performing hospitals included Tamworth, Belmont, Manning, Calvary Mater Newcastle, Narrabri, Inverell, Moree, Armidale, Gunnedah and Muswellbrook District.

“Tamworth Hospital continues to monitor all wait lists daily, performing 100 per cent of all elective surgeries within clinically specified timeframes,” Mr DiRienzo said.

This performance across all categories exceeds the state average, and waiting times for all elective surgeries are well within the recommended timeframes.

The district performed 7962 surgeries from July to September 2018, with a more than seven per cent increase of non-urgent surgeries, equating to 214 more surgeries.

Mr DiRienzo said it was also pleasing to see the district was continuing to improve the patient experience through reductions in ED waiting times.

“Three quarters (74.7 per cent) of ED presentations started within recommended timeframes, with 2569 additional patients seen on time,” he explained.

“Of the 103,446 ED presentations to our emergency departments, more than 73 per cent, or 72,238 patients, departed within four hours.”

John Hunter Hospital performed particularly well during the July to September period, achieving a five percentage point increase in patients having their treatment on time.  

This is despite seeing in excess of 20,200 presentations and a 30.8 per cent increase in triage category one patients.

Mr DiRienzo acknowledged the hardworking staff who were instrumental in embedding a range of strategies to deliver this high level of service.

“Our highly-trained nursing staff monitor ED waiting rooms to ensure patients are commencing required treatment as promptly as possible,” he said.

“In addition, Clinical Initiatives Nurses monitor and assess patients in the waiting room and commence simple treatments on patients while they wait.

“We have also reviewed rosters to ensure more doctors are available during peak periods, and we have further increased the number of doctors working in the John Hunter Hospital ED.”

Tamworth Hospital’s ED performance has remained steady this quarter, with 10,795 ED presentations. 

More than 65 per cent of presentations, or 6747, started treatment on time, which is 2.2 percentage points higher than the same period in 2017.

More than 66 per cent of those patients, or 6839, left the ED within four hours of their presentation.

“We are working to attract senior doctors to Tamworth to achieve the best possible staff mix and to ensure patients are being seen promptly,” Mr DiRienzo said.

“Several medical Emergency Specialists have been recruited this year as part of this ongoing strategy.”

Since the addition of a second resuscitation nurse, performance at Maitland Hospital continues to improve, with a nearly six per cent increase in patients starting their treatment on time compared to the same period last year.

The district continues to perform above and beyond the state average in transfer of care, with 92.6 per cent of arrivals, or 21,181 patients, transferred from the ambulance to the ED within the 30-minute benchmark.

“Singleton Hospital has seen a major 17.5 per cent improvement this quarter in transfer of care for 62 additional transfers, with 99.7 per cent of transfers from the ambulance to the ED within 30 minutes,” Mr DiRienzo said.

“Our staff have gone above and beyond to ensure we continue to meet the demands of the community, and I am grateful for their ongoing commitment to delivering high-quality health care across the district.”

The 2018-19 budget for HNELHD is nearly $2.3 billion, an increase of over $86 million on the 2017-18 annualised budget.

Between mid-2012 and mid-2018 HNELHD has increased its workforce by an additional 1115 full time equivalent staff – an increase of 10.6 per cent, including 277 more doctors and 627 more nurses.

In 2018-19 the NSW Government is investing a record $22.9 billion in health, representing a $1.1 billion increase over the 2017-18 Budget. 

This includes $19.2 billion towards improving services in hospitals in NSW this year.