The 4-hour target
The National Emergency Access Target aim is that, by 31 December 2015, 90% of emergency department presentations will be completed in 4 hours or less—from arrival, to when they went home or were admitted to the hospital.
In 2011–12:
- almost two-thirds (64%) of emergency department presentations were completed in 4 hours or less (Table 1).
- Western Australia had the highest proportion of emergency department presentations completed in 4 hours or less (79%).
- for patients subsequently admitted, about 29% of these patients were admitted in 4 hours or less.
- for patients not subsequently admitted, about 78% of these patients completed their emergency department visit in 4 hours or less.
Table 1: Proportion of presentations to emergency departments with a length of stay(a) of 4 hours or less, by triage category, states and territories, 2011-12
|
NSW |
Vic |
Qld |
WA |
SA |
Tas |
ACT |
NT |
Total |
|
('000) |
| Total emergency department presentations |
2,235 |
1,509 |
1,239 |
726 |
427 |
142 |
118 |
145 |
6,541 |
| Triage category |
(Per cent) |
| Resuscitation |
45 |
54 |
44 |
61 |
54 |
60 |
61 |
54 |
50 |
| Emergency |
35 |
46 |
42 |
65 |
47 |
40 |
47 |
41 |
44 |
| Urgent |
45 |
52 |
53 |
71 |
52 |
50 |
47 |
51 |
52 |
| Semi-urgent |
67 |
71 |
77 |
86 |
74 |
76 |
62 |
71 |
73 |
| Non-urgent |
85 |
89 |
90 |
95 |
87 |
89 |
83 |
89 |
88 |
| Total |
60 |
65 |
64 |
79 |
64 |
66 |
58 |
65 |
64 |
| Patients who were admitted from ED |
24 |
31 |
23 |
52 |
36 |
25 |
32 |
29 |
29 |
| Patients not admitted |
74 |
83 |
76 |
88 |
75 |
77 |
67 |
78 |
78 |
(a) Length of stay is calculated as the length of time between presentation to the emergency department and physical departure.
Length of stay
In 2011–12:
- For 90% of patients, their stay in the emergency department was less than 8 hours and 28 minutes, and length of stay was generally shorter for patients with less urgent triage categories (Figure 1)
- For patients subsequently admitted, the length of stay indicates the amount of time spent in the emergency department before being admitted to the hospital—90% of these patient were admitted within 14 hours and 23 minutes.
- For patients who were not subsequently admitted, the length of stay usually indicates the amount of time spent in emergency department before leaving the hospital—90% of these visits were completed within 5 hours and 39 minutes.
Further information
Emergency department services