WERRIBEE Mercy Hospital accounted for more than a quarter of instances where Victorian patients waited more than 24 hours for emergency treatment between January and March.
The latest Victorian Health Services Performance Report reveals that 380 patients waited longer than 24 hours for treatment in emergency departments, with 96 of them waiting at Werribee.
Frankston Hospital had the highest number of patients (126) spending more than 24 hours in the emergency department, while Western Hospital had just two patients wait longer than a day.
Mercy Public Hospitals executive director Linda Mellors said that in most cases patients waiting more than 24 hours for treatment were waiting for a bed in Werribee Mercy’s strained mental health unit.
Dr Mellors said it was hoped the 54-bed mental health facility announced in the state budget would help reduce emergency department waiting times. The $34.7million development will add 25 mental health beds to the hospital.
She said the hospital was also working to better manage complex emergency department presentations by investing in new equipment, liaising more with local GPs, providing extra beds in the hospital’s transition care program and making changes to its short stay unit.
Altona MP Jill Hennessy said the performance report revealed a blow-out in waiting times at the hospital on top of increases in ambulance ramping and response times across Wyndham.
“In almost every measure, our health system is going backwards – this is what happens when you cut $826 million from the health system over 2½ years,” she said.
However, Health Minister David Davis said Werribee Mercy Hospital was performing well and had managed to treat 100 per cent of category one patients as soon as they arrived at the emergency department and 85 per cent of category two patients within 10 minutes of arriving at the hospital.
The government requires 80 per cent of category two patients to be treated within 10 minutes.
