The Queensland government recently released new healthcare performance data on key areas around the state, and the figures indicate that its residents are certainly in safe hands.
In compiling the quarterly review, the government assessed a range of critical measures to gauge how healthcare providers in various cities were performing. These included metrics such as surgery waiting times, hospital capacities and emergency department performance.
The Gold Coast, one of Queensland’s biggest hubs, scored strongly in the review thanks largely to performance improvements from the new Gold Coast University Hospital, which increased its activity and capacity over the past quarter. In addition, there were “unprecedented increases in service delivery” in all the areas covered by the Gold Coast Hospital and Health Service Board, particularly in emergency services.
“A highlight of Gold Coast Health’s performance to date has been the elimination of long waits for dental patients,” added Health Minister Lawrence Springborg.
“The number of patients waiting two years or more for a dental appointment has gone from 4,407 to zero between March 2013 and March of this year.”
Meanwhile in Cairns, wait times for elective surgery have been drastically cut and patients are spending less time in the emergency department, the review reveals. According to Mr Springborg, the number of patients on the long wait elective surgery list went down from 393 in March 2012 to 261 in March this year.
Surgery waiting times also saw vast improvements in Townsville, with the number of surgery patients waiting longer than the clinically recommended time dropping from 747 in March 2012 to just 39 in March 2014.
“For non-urgent surgery, Townsville now sees 99 per cent of patients within the required time, compared to 62 per cent in the same period in 2012,” revealed Mr Springborg.
With such promising figures being released by the Queensland government healthcare review, patients in the Sunshine State have a healthcare system they can be proud of.