Patients who were admitted to hospital from Wollongong's emergency department faced an average wait time of 11 hours and 31 minutes, according to new health data which shows how the region's health system coped during the peak of the Omicron wave.
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One in ten of those people who needed at place in the hospital faced a wait of 26 hours and 23 minutes to leave the ED.
New Bureau of Health Information (BHI) statistics covering the January to March quarter, also show that critically ill patients in Wollongong were waiting longer for their treatment to start with only 44.8 per cent of the highest priority "T2 Emergency" patients starting their treatment within the target of 10 minutes.
Wollongong's results in this category were worse than other similar hospitals across NSW, where about half the "T2 Emergency" patients (50.9%) were seen to on time.
Ten per cent of Wollongong patients classed as having a critical illness or being in very severe pain waited 29 minutes before their treatment began.
The latest Bureau of Health Information report, which provides data on the performance of hospitals across NSW, showed that the number of Wollongong ED presentations during the quarter were similar to pre-pandemic levels.
However, as the hospital faced staff shortages due to illness and isolation requirements, just two-thirds of patients (66.7 per cent) were seen on time - down from 71.6 per cent the previous quarter and 74.4 per cent a year ago.
The data from January to March shows that 55.3 per cent of patients at Wollongong ED waited for longer than the state benchmark of four hours to leave the ED, either by being treated and discharged, leaving before their treatment was complete or by being admitted to a ward in Wollongong or another hospital.
On average, people left the ED after four hours and 29 minutes, which was 22 minutes longer than the same time a year ago and 29 minutes longer than the average time for similar hospitals across the state.
Ten per cent of Wollongong patients waited for 16 hours and four minutes to leave the ED, compared with an 11 hour and 41 minute wait for one in 10 patients at similar hospitals.
New pressures being caused by the winter flu season
These increasing wait times have been no secret in recent months, with residents regularly speaking out about the "standing room only" conditions at Wollongong ED.
Likewise, nurses say they have "never seen it this bad" and have warned that the emergency department pressures are continuing to worsen as the winter flu season hits.
The BHI report also backs up what Illawarra paramedics have been saying in recent months, as they campaigned over the "bed block" situation facing Wollongong emergency department.
From January to March, less than two thirds (65%) of patients were transferred from an ambulance to hospital within the state's 30 minute benchmark.
Wollongong Hospital performed significantly worse than the state average, where eight in 10 patients (78.6 per cent) were transferred from ambulance to ED staff within the 30-minute benchmark.
One in ten people arrived at Wollongong by ambulance waited an hour and 29 minutes on the ramps, which was 57 minutes longer than the 90 percentile wait time a year ago and 32 minutes longer than the wait at similar hospitals.
Illawarra Shoalhaven Local Health District Executive Director of Clinical Operations Margaret Martin said the peak of the Omicron wave had delivered an "unprecedented set of challenges".
"From January to March 2022 the District responded to record numbers of COVID-19 cases and hospitalisations, and many staff were unavailable due to contracting or being exposed to COVID-19," she said.
"This had a flow on impact on the District's hospitals and services, as is evident in the latest Bureau of Health Information Healthcare Quarterly report."
Ms Martin noted Illawarra hospitals had experienced "sustained high demand" for emergency care into winter, and said the district was implementing initiatives to improve ED performance, including increasing bed capacity where possible and ensuring all available clinical staff are deployed to the care areas with the highest demand.
"Most recently, the District implemented a two-week 'circuit breaker' initiative as an opportunity to better identify what is working well and what we might do differently to ensure the patient journey begins with timely care in our EDs," she said.
"We will continue to gather insights, track progress and act on our learnings to achieve: more timely admission from our EDs to hospital beds across the District; safe and efficient discharges of patients, including a better success rate in aged care placement and transfer to residential aged care facilities; and better use of use of technology and real-time solutions."
'Proof of a health crisis'
NSW Opposition health spokesman Ryan Park said the latest figures were "proof we have a healthcare system that is at crisis levels".
"We have hospitals across the Illawarra and Shoalhaven that are under continued pressure," he said.
"From Wollongong to Shellharbour and the Shoalhaven, all three major hospitals in the Illawarra continue to show they are under resourced and struggling to cope with increased demand."
"The Government's recent announcement of a boost to the workforce will take years before we see the benefits, in the meantime there are people who are left in pain because of their mismanagement."
Last week, Premier Dominic Perrottet announced that 10,148 full-time equivalent staff would be recruited to hospitals and health services across NSW over four years, as part of the NSW Government's 2022-23 Budget.
The $4.5 billion investment includes a $1.76 billion boost for NSW Ambulance to recruit 2,128 new staff and open 30 more stations.
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Kate McIlwain
For more than a decade, I've helped the Illawarra Mercury set the news agenda across the region. Currently I'm the paper's health reporter - covering the stories of Illawarra workers and residents in the wake of a global pandemic and at a time where our health systems are stretched to the limit.
For more than a decade, I've helped the Illawarra Mercury set the news agenda across the region. Currently I'm the paper's health reporter - covering the stories of Illawarra workers and residents in the wake of a global pandemic and at a time where our health systems are stretched to the limit.
