See which hospitals were the top performers in Metro North HHS and Metro South HHS.
Metro North’s Prince Charles Hospital was the top-performing hospital for emergency department and elective surgery performance in 2022-23, latest AIHW MyHospitals data has revealed.
Comparing results across seven major tertiary referral centres located in Brisbane and surrounding suburbs, Princes Charles Hospital reported both the shortest median wait time for ED patients at 3 hours, 21 minutes and the highest proportion of patients departing within four hours at 62%, well above the average of 48% among peer hospitals (“major” hospitals).
Despite reporting the highest volume of ED presentations with 115,530 visits in 2022-23, Prince Charles also outstripped its peers on 90th percentile wait time with most patients departing ED within 7 hours, 8 minutes, compared to an average of 11 hours, 50 minutes across other major hospitals.
Second place for ED performance went to Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital (Metro North HHS) with a median wait time for treatment of 4 hours, 4 minutes and 49% of patients leaving ED within four hours, although it fell slightly behind on 90th percentile wait time with most patients departing ED within 10 hours, 39 minutes.
Following RBWH was Princess Alexandra Hospital (Metro South HHS) with a median wait time until ED departure of 5 hours, 10 minutes, while 39% of patients left ED within four hours and 90% left within 12 hours, 52 minutes.
In terms of elective surgery performance, Prince Charles again outshone its peers with 98% of urgent, 86% of semi-urgent and 87% of non-urgent surgeries performed on time, compared to 89% of urgent, 61% of semi-urgent and 65% of non-urgent surgeries performed on time across other major metropolitan hospitals.
Median wait times for elective procedures at Princes Charles were also significantly shorter than across peer hospitals at 13 days for urgent surgery, 61 days for semi-urgent surgery and 252 days for non-urgent surgery.
RBWH clinched second place with 96% of urgent, 65% of semi-urgent and 55% of non-urgent surgeries delivered on time, while at PAH 76% of urgent, 48% of semi-urgent and 47% of non-urgent surgeries were performed on time in 2022-23.
Among those characterised as “large” metropolitan hospitals, Logan Hospital was the top performer for emergency department activity with a median wait time of 3 hours, 44 minutes and 54% of patients departing within four hours compared to 49% among peer hospitals, despite the hospital also recording the highest volume of ED presentations with 106,415 attendances recorded in 2022-23.
Second place was Redcliffe Hospital with a median wait time until ED departure of 4 hours, 13 minutes and 48% of patients departing within four hours, while third place was claimed by Queen Elizabeth II Jubilee Hospital with an average wait time of 4 hours, 16 minutes and 47% of patients leaving ED within four hours.
On elective surgery measures, QEII Jubilee Hospital and Logan Hospital were clear leaders in urgent procedures with 97% of procedures at Queen Elizabeth and 96% at Logan Hospital delivered on time versus 78% at Redcliffe Hospital.
However, Redcliffe Hospital surpassed its peers on semi-urgent and non-urgent procedures with 90% of semi-urgent and 93% of non-urgent surgeries delivered on time compared to 89% and 72% respectively at Queen Elizabeth and 71% and 61% respectively at Logan Hospital.
Redcliffe Hospital also reported the shortest median wait times for all but urgent elective procedures with patients waiting 21 days for urgent surgery, 53 days for semi-urgent surgery and 167 days for non-urgent surgery versus 20 days, 69 days and 349 days respectively at Logan Hospital and 18 days, 63 days and 321 days non-urgent respectively at Queen Elizabeth.
The AIHW My Hospitals data is available for all public and private hospitals in Australia via the institute’s website here.