Most patients presenting to hospital emergency departments are being seen 'on time' but are spending slightly longer there, a new report shows.
An Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) report, released on Wednesday, showed there were 7.8 million presentations to 287 public hospital emergency departments in the 2016-17 period across Australia. This equates to more than 21,000 each day.
Seven out of 10 (73 per cent) received treatment within an appropriate time for their urgency (triage) category. This rate differed, however, across the states and territories, ranging from 61 per cent in the Northern Territory to 81 per cent in NSW.
AIHW spokesperson Jenny Hargreaves says treatment waiting times in the ED have remained "fairly stable" since 2012-13.
The report also shows patients are spending slightly more time in the emergency department. The proportion of ED presentations completed in four hours or less decreased from 73 per cent in 2015-16 to 72 per cent in 2016-17.
'"After their visit to an emergency department, about 31 per cent of emergency department patients were admitted to hospital for further care," Ms Hargreaves said.
Of these patients, half were admitted in four hours or less and 90 per cent were admitted within 11 hours, said Ms Hargreaves.
Patients aged 65 and over accounted for more than 21 per cent of emergency presentations.
The two most common reasons for an ED presentation were abdominal and pelvic pain and pain in the throat and chest.
