MORE surgery was carried out at Orange hospital in the last quarter than any other hospital in the region, cementing Orange’s position as the major surgical and trauma hospital for the central and far west.
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Latest statistics from the Bureau of Health Information (BHI) from April to June showed Orange had a 39 per cent increase in triage one, or people who needed to be resuscitated because they were in imminent fear of dying, compared to the previous three reporting months.
This coincided with the Orange-based NSW Ambulance helicopter service moving to a 24-hour operation flying in and out of Orange at night to retrieve and fly in critically ill patients to Orange.
Orange Health Service general manager Catherine Nowlan said the increase in triage one critically ill patients while still meeting benchmarks was an extraordinary effort for Orange.
“These are very impressive results and we are very proud we are responding to the demand,” she said.
Accident and emergency department nursing unit manager Meg O’Brien said a cohesive team produced good results.
“It is all very much a team effort from everyone to make these results possible,” she said.
The latest BHI statistics also showed Orange hospital carried out more surgery than any other hospital in the Western Local Health District.
It performed twice the number of operations on patients (885) compared to 389 in Bathurst and was also ahead of Dubbo, which performed 779 operations in the last reporting quarter.
Ms Nowlan said the hospital had continued to carry out elective surgery within the state benchmark times, with 100 per cent of cases in the 30-day category carried out to schedule.
The rate of patients with a non-medical issue improved slightly this year, with 99 per cent of patients operated on within 90 days, up from 98 per cent during the same period last year.
“The median time between patients arriving and leaving our emergency department was two hours and 28 minutes - 28 minutes less than for the same period last year and 21 minutes less than the NSW average,” Ms Nowlan said.
Ms Nowlan the department’s total presentations during the quarter had increased by 2 per cent on the same period last year, from 6499 to 6653.
Ms Nowlan said the hospital was also pleased with the drop in waiting times in Orange for gynaecology, urology, cystoscopy, and tonsillectomy surgery, with the mean waiting time for ear, nose and throat surgery falling by 220 days for some patients compared to the same time last year.
janice.harris@fairfaxmedia.com.au
