Page 2775 - Week 09 - Thursday, 27 September 2007
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The issue, of course, is that we continue to see increase in demand. Timeliness results have improved in 2006-07, with the timeliness for category 2 presentations being seen on time increasing from 71 per cent to 77 per cent. So, for category 2 we have seen an increase in the level of timeliness. At the same time, of course, category 2 presentations have increased by over 11 per cent, so we are well on track to meet the national average for category 2 patients of 80 per cent being seen on time. Now it is 77 per cent compared to 71 per cent a year ago.
In relation to category 5 patients—people who should receive care within two hours—we performed just below the national target of 85 per cent being seen on time, with 82 per cent receiving care on time. These are good results, but our biggest concern remains in the area of category 3 and category 4 presentations. The outcome for both of these categories in 2006-07 was 47 per cent for category 3 patients and 49 per cent for category 4 patients being seen within the standard time frames. These, however, are still better than the previous year’s results for category 3 of 44 per cent and category 4 of 47 per cent.
We are also focusing on ambulance off-stretcher times. This is the amount of time it takes to get people out of the ambulance and into and being seen within the emergency department. The amount of time it takes for a patient to be transferred from an ambulance into the emergency department continues to improve, with 93 per cent of patients off-loaded from ambulances within 20 minutes of arrival, an improvement of over the 89.6 per cent reported for 2005-06.
Mr Speaker, the incidents referred to in the report of the Health Services Complaints Commissioner—and, yes, the Health Services Complaints Commissioner does still exist; there has been no change to that role, contrary to the assertions made by Mrs Burke on the radio this morning—are, of course, of concern to the government. Nevertheless, they are still the isolated minority, not the majority, experience of most people seen in our emergency departments.
Yes, our emergency departments are under pressure, but what the commissioner confirms in his response and in his report is that we have seen a detailed assessment of those incidents, lessons learned from them, and continued systemic improvement to provide the high quality of care, which is still the majority experience—indeed, the overwhelming majority experience—in our emergency departments.
MR SPEAKER: A supplementary question, Mrs Burke.
MRS BURKE: Minister, health complaints increased by some 28 per cent in the previous year, and some 24complaints relate to hospitals. After three health ministers, innumerable special plans and programs and many millions of dollars in additional funds, why are these failures still occurring?
MR CORBELL: Mr Speaker, no public health system is foolproof; no public health system is without its problems and without complaints. In a system that provides over 73,500 occasions of service every year—73,500 occasions of service every year—it is difficult, and in fact impossible, not to see some level of complaint. That is the nature
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