Emergency departments in state of emergency: report

A new report by the Australasian College for Emergency Medicine (ACEM) has found that in 2020–21 public emergency departments (EDs) across Australia saw the highest number of patient presentations ever recorded — proof of the strain on EDs and the need for urgent healthcare reform, according to the ACEM.

This stark finding is one of many in State of Emergency 2022 (SOE22), an inaugural annual report consisting of data collected from Australian public major, metropolitan and regional hospitals, then analysed and presented both nationally and individually for each state and territory.

SOE22 also shows that demand for emergency care has risen by 14% since 2016–17 — despite the population only growing by 5% — and that patients requiring hospital admission were stuck waiting for a bed 5 hours longer than safe recommended targets with an average wait of almost 13 hours.

The data shows that these pressures were not caused by COVID-19 and have been steadily increasing for years.

SOE22 includes quotes from patients and staff struggling to receive and deliver quality care in the overloaded system and presents national and jurisdiction-based answers to vital questions, including:

• What percentage of people are presenting for mental health support?
• When is the busiest time and day in EDs?
• How long are people waiting for care, or a bed?
• How many people leave before even receiving treatment?
   

ACEM President Dr Clare Skinner said, “SOE22 is the concrete proof of what Australia’s emergency doctors have been saying for years: EDs in every state and territory in Australia are in a state of emergency. There have never been more people requiring acute health care, people have never had such complex health needs and people have never had to wait so long for urgently needed care.”

State of Emergency 2022 articulates strategic, long-term, whole-of-system, nationwide approaches for reducing pressures on emergency departments and the broader health system.

Skinner said, “The healthcare system must undergo urgent and collaborative reform, led by the federal government, to ensure all people get the health care they need, when and where they need it.”

The ACEM recommendations include moving away from a ‘one size fits all’ model, better remote health care, greater provision for disabled patients, more appropriate mental health support and health equity for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples.

Image credit: iStock.com/Caiaimage/Robert Daly