See which major tertiary referral centre took the crown for shortest ED wait times and elective surgeries delivered on time in 2022-23.
Townsville University Hospital was the top performing major hospital in regional and rural Queensland for emergency department performance for 2022-23, according to the AIHW MyHospitals database.
Serving as the sole tertiary referral centre for the north Queensland region, Townsville University Hospital reported the shortest median wait time to ED departure at 3 hours, 42 minutes and the highest proportion of people leaving within recommended times, with 60% leaving in four hours compared to 48% across peer hospitals (“major” hospitals).
Close second for emergency department performance was Sunshine University Hospital, which reported the second shortest median ED wait time at 3 hours, 56 minutes and slightly fewer departing ED within four hours (52% versus 60%) but superseded Townsville University Hospital on 90th percentile wait time to ED departure (8 hours, 38 minutes versus 8 hours, 49 minutes).
Gold Coast University Hospital came in third on ED activity metrics with a median wait time to ED departure of 4 hours, 19 minutes and a 90th percentile wait time of 10 hours, 35 minutes, with 46% of patients departing within four hours in 2022-23.
Despite its comparative underperformance on ED activity metrics, it was GCUH that took the win in elective surgery performance with 94% of urgent surgeries, 69% of semi-urgent and 70% of non-urgent surgeries performed on time in 2022-23, compared to 89%, 61% and 65% respectively across peer hospitals.
Overall, median wait times for elective procedures were also relatively short at GCUH (16 days for urgent surgery, 75 days semi-urgent and 351 days non-urgent surgery), although it was outpaced on urgent wait times by TUH (15 days) and on semi-urgent and non-urgent wait times by SCUH (74 days and 347 days).
Among “large” hospitals reporting more than 50,000 ED presentations, Toowoomba Hospital was a clear winner for ED performance with the shortest median wait time to departure of 3 hours, 33 minutes and 90th percentile wait time of 8 hours, 18 minutes, with 58% of patients leaving ED within four hours versus 54% across peer hospitals.
Closely behind Toowoomba Hospital was Rockhampton Hospital with a similar median wait time to ED departure (3 hours, 36 minutes) and 56% of patients leaving within four hours, although it was outperformed on 90th percentile wait time to departure by Mackay Base Hospital, with most patients leaving ED within 11 hours, 41 minutes at Rockhampton versus 10 hours, 54 minutes at Mackay Base.
On elective surgery metrics, Ipswich Hospital came out on top with 97% of urgent procedures, 87% of semi-urgent and 81% of non-urgent procedures performed within clinically recommended times, compared to 92%, 64% and 68% respectively across peer hospitals, while median wait times were 15 days for urgent surgery, 61 days for semi-urgent surgery and non-urgent surgery was 300 days in 2022-23.
Toowoomba was the second-top performing hospital for elective surgery with 99% of urgent, 85% of semi-urgent and 42% of non-urgent urgent procedures delivered within recommended times, with Cairns Hospital claiming third place with 88% of urgent surgeries, 58% of semi-urgent and 65% of non-urgent urgent surgeries performed on time in 2022-23.
Median wait times for urgent and non-urgent procedures (19 days and 429 days) at Toowoomba were also notably longer than those reported at Cairns Hospital (15 days and 359 days), although semi-urgent surgery wait times were significantly shorter at Toowoomba than at Cairns (69 days versus 89 days).
For “large” hospitals reporting fewer than 50,000 ED presentations, Nambour General Hospital was the clear winner on ED activity metrics with a median wait time to departure of 3 hours, 19 minutes and 62% of patients leaving within four hours, compared to 49% across peer hospitals, while 90% of patients left within 8 hours, 7 minutes versus 12 hours, 4 minutes among other large hospitals.
Runner up to Nambour General was Hervey Bay with a median wait time of 3 hours, 58 minutes and 51% of patients departing ED within four hours, while third place was claimed by Bundaberg Hospital with a median wait time of 4 hours, 13 minutes and 48% of patients leaving within four hours.
For elective surgery performance, Bundaberg Hospital surpassed its peers on urgent surgeries with 100% of procedures delivered on time in 2022-23, compared to 66% at Nambour General, but fell behind on semi-urgent and non-urgent surgeries with 56% and 58% respectively performed on time at Bundaberg versus 76% and 90% at Nambour General.
Nambour General Hospital also reported significantly shorter median wait times for semi-urgent and non-urgent procedures (58 days and 177 days) versus those reported at Bundaberg Hospital (86 days and 350 days), although wait times for urgent surgeries were shorter at Bundaberg than at Nambour (21 days versus 24 days).
The AIHW My Hospitals data is available for all public and private hospitals in Australia via the institute’s website here.