NSW hospital emergency departments have never been busier, with an earlier-than-usual flu season coinciding more people waiting longer for treatment.
The latest official hospital emergency data released on Wednesday shows ED attendances topped 756,000 in the first three months of 2019 - almost 6 per cent higher than the same quarter last year.
Among the hospitals feeling the pressure was the state's $600 million, 488-bed Northern Beaches Hospital, where two out of five ED patients (40.3 per cent) didn't start treatment on time.
Patients waited even longer at the top-tier Westmead Hospital, where 47.5 per cent were treated on time.
Statewide, the average for on-time treatment dropped 4.3 per cent to 71.9 per cent.
The Bureau of Health Information quarterly report also showed the median time spent in emergency swelled to almost three hours, while one in 10 patients waited more than seven-and-a-half hours to begin treatment.
NSW Health said the early flu season was already being felt as more patients headed to emergency with respiratory illnesses, fever and infections.
Ambulance responses also grew in the busy quarter, with paramedics making more than 3400 responses a day - 10 per cent higher than the same quarter last year.
Despite this, the median response time for critically ill patients remained at seven-and-a-half minutes.
NSW Labor labelled the figures "damning", particularly for the new Northern Beaches Hospital.
"There is no way Premier Gladys Berejiklian or Health Minister Brad Hazzard can claim after five months that these are just 'teething problems'," opposition health spokesman Walt Secord said in a statement.
"This clearly shows that the problems at the Northern Beaches Hospital are systemic."
Mr Secord last week successfully moved for a parliamentary inquiry into the operation and management of the hospital.
