And they spent more time in emergency departments in some hospitals.

That’s according to the Bureau of Health Information (BHI) data for the July-September 2018 quarter.

The BHI compared the performance of hospitals in the Southern  NSW Local Health District, which provides health services in Bega, Batemans Bay, Moruya and Goulburn, on various parameters.

The median waiting time for surgeries was not available for the Batemans Bay District Hospital. 

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Data showed the median waiting time for an urgent surgery, which is recommended within 30 days, at Goulburn hospital went up from 10 days in the July-September 2017 quarter to 16 days in the July-September 2018 quarter.

Similarly, the median waiting time for a semi-urgent surgery, which is recommended within 60 days, at Goulburn hospital went up from 35 days to 48 days for the same period.

The median waiting time for an urgent surgery and a semi-urgent story at the South East Regional Hospital went up from 17 days to 19 days, and 62 days to 72 days respectively.

A Southern NSW LHD spokesperson said the rise in waiting time could be attributed to an increase in the number of surgeries.

“The number of elective surgery procedures performed increased by 11.8 per cent to 1601,” the spokesperson said.

Emergency departments

Emergency departments at some Southern NSW LHD hospitals have performed better than the last year.

Batemans Bay hospital and the South East Regional Hospital performed better than most hospitals in the local health district.

For instance, at Batemans Bay hospital 73.3 per cent of patients started treatment on time in the July-September 2018 quarter compared with 67.8 per cent of patients during the same time last year.

Patients also spent less time in the emergency department.

“This is despite 324 more patients presenting to ED, an eight per cent increase on the same period last year,” the Southern NSW LHD spokesperson said.

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On the contrary, Goulburn hospital and Moruya hospital slipped in their emergency departments performance.

The number of patients who started treatment on time fell from 70 per cent to 64.5 per cent at Goulburn hospital.

For Moruya hospital, it fell from 75.1 per cent to 72.7 per cent.

People also spent more time in the emergency department.

The spokesperson said emergency departments across Southern NSW LHD continued to experience increased demand in 2018.

“There were 681 more emergency presentations compared to the same quarter last year, a 2.7 percentage point increase,” the spokesperson said.

“Despite this rise, 83 per cent of patients left the emergency department within four hours, a slight increase on last year of 0.3 per cent.”