Wimmera Base Hospital’s emergency department has generally performed as well or better than similar sub-regional hospitals in Victoria.

However, during some months in 2015/16 the percentage of emergency department patients deemed ‘urgent’ who were treated within 30 minutes had fallen below targets.

Seven months of the financial year had seen 80.2 to 85.5 per cent of urgent cases attended within 30 minutes, but the other months had seen the rate drop below the 80 per cent target.

Wimmera Base Hospital’s worst month over two years was August 2015, when 75.9 per cent of urgent cases were seen to within 30 minutes.

The average length of stay for ‘urgent’ triage category 3 patients in Wimmera Base Hospital was under four hours, which is the statewide average.

For most of the other numbers, the hospital was above average. 

About 50 per cent of emergency admissions were discharged from Wimmera Base Hospital within 48 hours.

Hospitals in Mildura, West Gippsland and Warrnambool had discharge rates of between 20 and 30 per cent.

Wimmera’s percentage of re-presentations to the same emergency within 48 hours was worse than the state average but better than the average for similar hospitals.

On Wednesday, Victoria’s Auditor General Andrew Greaves released the report ‘Efficiency and Effectiveness of Hospital Services: Emergency Care’.

The report looked at emergency care performance following new national targets for treating urgent emergency cases.

The report also looked at what additional support could be provided to hospitals by the Department of Health and Human Services.

In a submission to the report, Wimmera Health Care Group chief executive Chris Scott said he agreed with the conclusion that the whole hospital staff needed to be accountable for emergency room performance.

Mr Graves stated that leadership and removing barriers between the emergency department and the rest of the hospital were vital for improving the flow between wards.

Mr Scott’s submission provided more detail on Wimmera Base Hospital’s handling of urgent cases in the emergency department.

He also pointed to the health care groups efforts to improve performance and pinpoint bottlenecks.

Wimmera Health Care Group was also audited by KPMG on behalf of the State Government in April 2015.

Mr Scott said the completed two low priority and two high priority recommendations identified by the audit.

A high priority recommendation to improve the security of the hospital’s digital patient management system had yet to be completed but was expected by February next year.