August 13, 2017 will go down in history at St George Hospital.
A total of 320 patients came through the emergency department doors in search of urgent, medical treatment – equating to a new patient every four and a half minutes.
St George Hospital emergency department senior staff specialist Peter Grant told the Leader it had since been confirmed as the busiest day on record for the ED.
He said it had also been confirmed as the busiest day on record for any ED in a NSW public hospital.
The unenviable record came in the middle of the busiest quarter on record for emergency departments right across NSW. The hike in ED activity has been linked to a particularly-harsh flu season.
The Bureau of Health Information (BHI) releases statistics each quarter for public hospitals across NSW. The latest report, July to September 2017, was released last week.
The report showed more than 720,000 patients were presented to a NSW public hospital emergency department between July and September – the highest number recorded by BHI (since the bureau began recording statistics in 2010).
The emergency departments at St George Hospital and Sutherland Hospital both saw record numbers of patients over the quarter. St George Hospital saw 21,041 presentations (up from 18,958 between July and September 2016), while Sutherland Hospital saw 13,441 presentations (up from 12,365 between July and September 2016).
Dr Grant said he was proud of the staff at St George Hospital ED following a heavy period.
“Our staff have done a wonderful job,” he said. “With the higher number of presentations, sick leave generally goes up as well. So under the circumstances they did a fantastic job.”
BHI acting chief executive Kim Sutherland said the increase in ED activity was linked to one of the worst flu seasons the state had experienced in recent years.
“Winter is typically the busiest quarter for NSW public hospitals, but this winter season was particularly busy for emergency departments throughout the state,” Dr Sutherland said
