New figures show NSW hospitals are recovering from another winter impacted by COVID-19.

New figures show NSW hospitals are recovering from another winter impacted by COVID-19.Credit:James Brickwood

Meanwhile,almost 100,000 people were on elective surgery waiting lists at the end of September,including close to 18,000 who had waited longer than clinical guidelines say they should,the latest official state hospital data reveals.

Ambulances couldn’t reach almost two in three Priority 1 “emergency” patients within the 15-minute target,and one in five of these patients were still waiting for an ambulance 30 minutes after their triple-zero calls,according to the report released on Wednesday.

More than one in three Priority 1A patients (people with life-threatening conditions like cardiac or respiratory arrest) waited longer than the 10-minute target for an ambulance to arrive.

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Paramedics have contended with an influx of P1 cases,responding to 170,567 over the quarter,up 16.3 per cent compared to the same quarter in 2019.

President of the Australian Paramedics Association NSW Chris Kastelan said the results were part of a larger trend toward slower response times across NSW.

“Every paramedic gets into this job to help people,so it’s heartbreaking to know we’re letting patients down with slow emergency response times.”

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He called for “urgent action” by the state government to turn the trend around,including investment in resourcing,capacity,and non-emergency care pathways.

“In an emergency,every minute matters. For a cardiac arrest,chances of survival can decrease by 10 per cent each minute treatment is delayed,” Kastelan said.

Ambulances couldn’t reach almost two in three Priority 1 “emergency” patients within the 15-minute target.

Ambulances couldn’t reach almost two in three Priority 1 “emergency” patients within the 15-minute target.Credit:Dean Sewell

Overall,ambulances responded to 330,591 call-outs from July to September – a 3.3 per cent increase compared to the same quarter in 2019,before the pandemic.

Bureau of Health Information chief executive Dr Diane Watson said the results were slightly better than the April to June period,but still significantly short of pre-COVID levels.

Patients also continued to face long waits in emergency departments,even as fewer people overall turned up to EDs (744,853) compared to both the preceding quarter and pre-pandemic levels.

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But the number of people triaged in the most serious categories – triage 1 and 2 – rose by 10.7 per cent (an additional 583 patients) and 11 per cent (an additional 10,993 patients) respectively compared to the same quarter in 2019.

Overall,one in three patients waited too long for treatment,the report showed.

Almost half of triage 2 (emergency,potential life-threatening) patients waited longer than the 10-minute clinically recommended target for treatment,though these results were an improvement on the record low time-to-treatment results of the previous quarter.

Almost three in four patients who were treated and admitted spent four hours or more in ED,and one in 10 patients who were treated and admitted spent longer than 22 hours and five minutes – the worst result since BHI reporting began in 2010.

President of the Australasian College of Emergency Medicine Dr Clare Skinner said high numbers of triage 2 patients – including people with life-threatening problems such as chest pain,stroke and road accidents –demonstrate that emergency departments remained under significant strain.

Patients continue to face long waits in NSW emergency departments.

Patients continue to face long waits in NSW emergency departments.Credit:Kate Geraghty

“Patients will continue to experience overly long waits for care,and staff will continue to experience stress,burnout and leave the sector,until we radically improve coordination,resourcing,and integration across the health system,” Skinner said.

A total of 99,985 patients were on elective surgery wait lists at the end of the quarter,with 17,893 waiting too long,according to clinical benchmarks.

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But this result was down from a record high in the previous quarter,and almost all urgent elective surgeries were performed on time (98.9 per cent) as NSW hospitals pushed through 55,493 elective operations between July and September.

President of the Australian Medical Association NSW Dr Michael Bonning said the state needed a long-term plan to rebuild elective surgery in public hospitals beyond the measures introduced to work through the pandemic backlog,which included agreements with private hospitals to share the load.

“The wait times are too long for people in pain,” Bonning said.

NSW Health Deputy Secretary Adjunct Professor Matthew Daly said the report showed the health system was improving after an extremely busy winter amid the ongoing pandemic and furloughing of staff.

“This has been one of the most challenging years on record for the health system and July to September was no exception,but we have started to see improvements in the timeliness of care provided,” Daly said.

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