Ambulance arrivals at Blue Mountains hospital in Katoomba soared in the three months to September.
Some 1,233 patients were delivered to the emergency department by ambulance between July and September this year, a 24 per cent increase on the same period last year.
Overall the number of patients seeking help at the hospital's emergency department was 4,533, up 8 per cent over the same quarter in 2018, according to the latest Healthcare Quarterly, produced by the Bureau of Health Information.
The number of Katoomba hospital patients whose treatment started on time rose to 73 per cent, better than a year ago (70 per cent) but below the average for similar district hospitals (76 per cent).
One of the hospital's most significant improvements was in urgent elective surgery, where the waiting list last year was three weeks (21 days) and is now down to 14 days.
There was also a mini baby boom at Katoomba during the winter, with 56 babies born, compared with 47 in the equivalent period of 2018.
Nepean Hospital continued to carry a heavy workload in western Sydney with 19,206 people attending the emergency department in the September quarter, more than 1,000 more than the same period in 2018.
Fewer than half the patients at Nepean (48 per cent) had their treatment start on time, down from 52 per cent a year ago and well below the 64 per cent recorded by peer grouped hospitals.
Nepean delivered 1,013 babies into the world between June and September this year.
Across the state, there were 764,610 emergency department attendances in the July to September 2019 quarter, up 7 per cent compared with the same quarter of 2018.
