tetano
Editor, Senior Moderator
Doctors are calling for another 400 beds at busy Perth hospitals after ambulances were forced to wait outside emergency departments for almost 200 hours in the past week.
The surge has also led to a blow-out in the time some emergency department patients are waiting to be seen.
Category 3 patients, who are considered urgent with injuries such as major bleeding, have been waiting up to 47 minutes on average on some days instead of the recommended maximum of 30 minutes.
Since early last week, Perth hospitals have treated about 1400 emergency department patients a day and admitted about 400 of them.
In the week leading up to Tuesday, ambulances ramped outside hospitals for 192 hours - more than 300 per cent higher than in the previous week.
The Australian Medical Association said it was the first real taste of winter illnesses for Perth hospitals and they showed they could not cope.
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http://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/a/-/wa/9926645/hospitals-fail-to-cope-as-winter-flu-strikes/
The surge has also led to a blow-out in the time some emergency department patients are waiting to be seen.
Category 3 patients, who are considered urgent with injuries such as major bleeding, have been waiting up to 47 minutes on average on some days instead of the recommended maximum of 30 minutes.
Since early last week, Perth hospitals have treated about 1400 emergency department patients a day and admitted about 400 of them.
In the week leading up to Tuesday, ambulances ramped outside hospitals for 192 hours - more than 300 per cent higher than in the previous week.
The Australian Medical Association said it was the first real taste of winter illnesses for Perth hospitals and they showed they could not cope.
..
http://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/a/-/wa/9926645/hospitals-fail-to-cope-as-winter-flu-strikes/