Patients at Werribee Mercy Hospital are facing shorter emergency department waiting times thanks to a new system that fast-tracks patients with minor issues.
Since January, emergency department patients presenting with minor problems have been treated by a dedicated team consisting of a doctor and nurse.
The pair treat emergency department patients in triage categories four and five, which include mild bleeding, foreign bodies in the eye, head injuries, possible bone fractures or symptoms such as rashes or minor aches and pains.
Mercy Health chief executive of health services Linda Mellors said that since the introduction of the new system, the number of patients who had chosen to leave the emergency department without being seen by a member of the ED clinical team had dropped by 30 per cent.
“The new ED process is widely accepted as being an effective model of care in emergency departments,” Dr Mellors said.
“The average length of stay in the ED has also decreased and cubicles have been freed up for higher- acuity patients.”
The latest Victorian Health Services report shows the hospital bettered state government treatment targets for triage category one, two and three patients in the June 2016 quarter.
It’s the first quarter in the past 12 months that the hospital has met all three targets.
