More elective surgeries than ever at Katoomba

The latest Bureau of Health Information statistics show that 373 elective surgeries were performed at Katoomba in the July-September quarter, a massive 84 per cent rise on the same period last year.

The hospital's capacity has increased with the changes. In the March quarter, there were 232 surgeries. Eye services were transferred in April and in that quarter, the number of operations had risen to 340; now it is up to 373.

And Katoomba performed 96 per cent of operations on time, including 100 per cent of urgent cases and 98 per cent of semi-urgent. Both Nepean and Lithgow hospitals also performed all urgent operations on time.

The changes have meant a huge lift in the waiting list, up from 202 last year to 717 this year but, as at the end of the September quarter, there were no patients waiting longer than recommended for their surgery.

The emergency department continued to show improvement, with 65 per cent of patients treated in a timely fashion (up from 60 per cent last year) and 58 per cent leaving within four hours.

The hospital also avoided the worst of ambulance "ramping", where crowded emergency departments force paramedics to wait until their patients can be admitted.

At Katoomba, 92 per cent were transferred from the ambulance to the ED within 30 minutes. This compares favourably with Nepean, where just 60 per cent are moved quickly, but Nepean, with more than 20,200 presentations, had more than four times the load of Katoomba, with 4,780 people presenting to emergency.

Across the health district, there were 35,565 attendances to emergency departments, a 7.8 per cent increase on the same period last year.

Nepean Blue Mountains Local Health District chief executive, Lee Gregory, said: "We sincerely thank our highly skilled and dedicated staff who continued to perform exceptionally throughout this challenging period."