BALLARAT has not been immune to the increased demand from patients presenting to emergency departments across the state, according to Victoria’s latest health performance data.
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ED arrivals at Ballarat Health Services Base Hospital jumped to 13,805 in the three months to the end of December, with 3941 patient admissions. This was up about 600 patients, for each, in the same quarter last year.
November’s ‘thunderstorm asthma’ outbreak created a surge in patients presenting with breathing difficulties. The hospital worked with the city’s pharmacies to meet ventolin supply amid the rare epidemic.
Ambulance responses made slight improvements on meeting time targets for category one, two and three patients. This includes 84 per cent within the 15-minute benchmark for most time-critical cases: cardiac arrest, heart attack, major trauma and stroke.
BHS had 1463 patients awaiting elective surgery up 174 on the previous quarter.
