Emergency department patients are more likely to wait on an ambulance stretcher for treatment at Wollongong Hospital than at any other hospital in NSW, according to the most recent hospital performance data.
The site fails to meet three out of five triage performance benchmarks and is among the worst for admitting patients within eight hours of their arrival.
NSW Opposition health spokeswoman Jillian Skinner yesterday named the hospital's results among the state's most "shocking" and said the results were due to nurses being sacked by the Government.
However the health service pointed to an upcoming seven-bed expansion and long-term staffing strategies as proof the problems were already in hand.
According to the report, about half the patients who arrive at Wollongong Hospital's emergency department wait longer than 30 minutes on a stretcher and only 64 per cent of patients wait less than eight hours to be admitted from emergency.
The results will come as scarce surprise to paramedics frequently spotted queuing outside the site because a bed isn't available for their patient.
The hospital's newly appointed network executive clinical director, Barry Elison, attributed the numbers to difficulty attracting staff and insufficient treatment bays, but said both problems were being addressed.
"What it boils down to is the number of patients per staff - and our ratios are absolutely higher right through the hospital, there's no doubt about it," he said.
"But I think Wollongong Hospital has grown in its stature. With the university we've become a recognised teaching hospital and I think people are beginning to realise that we are no longer seen as a peripheral institution."
In April the State Government pledged $3.2 million for seven new treatment bays at the hospital, to be delivered by June 2010, and a four-bed psychiatric emergency care centre.
Dr Elison said the beds and new doctors would likely result in better key performance indicators in future.
Ms Skinner said all but four of the state's hospital emergency departments fell short of Australian waiting-time standards, with Nepean Hospital falling well below par and Wollongong one of 12 hospitals failing to meet three triage benchmarks.
Ms Skinner said the figures reflected staffing cuts.
"The Rees Labor Government is taking experienced nurses away from our public hospitals. These figures clearly show the impact it is having on frontline hospital services," she said.
Figures released by caretaker NSW Health Minister John Hatzistergos on Tuesday showed presentations to the state's emergency departments in the three months to June had increased by 2.2 per cent on the same period last year.
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