The latest Your Hospitals report shows 21,945 patients went through the emergency department in the six months until December 31.

This is up 10 per cent on the same period in 2006, and puts Ballarat just behind Barwon Health and Bendigo Health in throughput numbers.

Eighty per cent of patients were transferred to a ward bed within eight hours, in line with State Government targets.

BHS chief executive officer Andrew Rowe said increased demand for the hospital's services had been caused by a shortage of general practitioners in Ballarat, an ageing population and some services being

exclusively available at BHS.

``This is recognition of the facilities and expertise we can provide,'' Mr Rowe said.

``We have coped incredibly well with the massive increase in demand.

``At times not enough credit is given to the staff who have coped very well with the demands placed on them.''

The report also showed BHS was the second busiest regional hospital with 16,461 people admitted in the six month period to December, behind Barwon Health with 30,742 admissions and ahead of Latrobe

Regional Hospital with 14,278.

This was an eight per cent rise on the previous six months, with 40 more elective surgeries also performed from July to December.

However, Western Province MLC John Vogels called on the State Government to adopt the Liberal Party's $88.4m Ballarat Health Services Base Hospital action plan, which would provide an extra 60

beds, 20 more doctors and an additional 80 nurses.

Mr Vogels also claimed the Your Hospitals report was released on the same day as the federal budget so it would be ``drowned out and overlooked''.