Our Performance

Emergency Department Status

This report provides an indication of how busy the hospital emergency department is as at 10am each day. This may change at any point during the day depending on the number of patients arriving for treatment through the emergency department.

'On bypass' is a term that describes whether the hospital emergency department has requested ambulances to be redirected to other hospitals. This happens when the emergency department has reached maximum capacity and the treatment of patients already in the emergency department could be significantly compromised with the arrival, by ambulance, of further patients. Ambulances are then redirected to emergency departments that are less busy. Patients deemed by Queensland Ambulance to be category one, the most urgent, are not redirected when hospitals are on bypass. Hospital bypass only affects patients arriving by ambulance, all 'walk in' patients will still be treated by staff in the emergency department.

The second table provides data on the number of patients waiting in the emergency department for transfer to a ward bed in the hospital as at 10am each morning and provides summary information about the strategies hospitals have put in place to accommodate patients waiting for beds.

Bypass status as at 10:00am on Thursday 09 September, 2010

Hospital	On Bypass	Wed 08/09 10am	Tue 07/09 10am	Mon 06/09 10am	Sun 05/09 10am	Sat 04/09 10am	Fri 03/09 10am	Thu 02/09 10am
Bundaberg Hospital	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No
Caboolture Hospital	No	No	No	No	No	Bypass	No	No
Cairns Base Hospital	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No
Caloundra Hospital	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No
Gladstone Hospital	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No
Gold Coast Hospital	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No
Gympie Hospital	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No
Hervey Bay Hospital	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No
Ipswich Hospital	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No
Logan Hospital	No	Bypass	Bypass	Bypass	No	No	No	No
Mackay Base Hospital	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No
Maryborough Hospital	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No
Nambour Hospital	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No
Princess Alexandra Hospital	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	No	No
Queen Elizabeth II Jubilee Hospital	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No
Redcliffe Hospital	No	No	No	No	No	No	Bypass	No
Redland Hospital	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No
Robina Hospital	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No
Rockhampton Base Hospital	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No
Royal Brisbane & Women's Hospital	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No
Royal Children's Hospital	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No
The Prince Charles Hospital	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No
Toowoomba Hospital	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No
Townsville Hospital	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No

Emergency Department Strategies as at Thursday 09 September, 2010

Data provided on patients awaiting transfer

Note: Patients may be waiting transfer from the Emergency Department for specific wards and this is not a measure of whether
beds are available in the hospital as a whole

Hospital	Patients Awaiting Transfer	Strategies to accommodate patients waiting for beds.
Bundaberg Hospital	12	- Awaiting discharges, patients will be admitted to a bed as soon as possible.
Caboolture Hospital	2	- Awaiting discharges, patients will be admitted to a bed as soon as possible.
Cairns Base Hospital	17	- Awaiting discharges, patients will be admitted to a bed as soon as possible.
Caloundra Hospital	3	- Awaiting discharges, patients will be admitted to a bed as soon as possible.
Gladstone Hospital	1	- Patient will be moved to the ward following expected am discharges.
Gold Coast Hospital	8	- Consultation with the ward medical and nursing staff to determine availability of beds in the next 12 hours. - Opening of a fast track area in the emergency department to free the main emergency area to manage seriously ill patients requiring admission. - Liaison with QAS when bed situation becomes critical, to allow faster discharge of patients requiring assisted transfer home.
Gympie Hospital	0	N/A
Hervey Bay Hospital	2	- Awaiting discharges, patients will be admitted to a bed as soon as possible.
Ipswich Hospital	2	- Awaiting discharges, patients will be admitted to a bed as soon as possible.
Logan Hospital	11	- Awaiting discharges, patients will be admitted to a bed as soon as possible.
Mackay Base Hospital	2	- Awaiting discharges, patients will be admitted to a bed as soon as possible.
Maryborough Hospital	0	N/A
Mount Isa Hospital	3	- Awaiting discharges, patients will be admitted to a bed as soon as possible.
Nambour Hospital	13	- Awaiting discharges, patients will be admitted to a bed as soon as possible.
Princess Alexandra Hospital	32	- Patients transferred from emergency department to a bed in the hospital as early as possible. - Early morning review of inpatients by medical and nursing staff to assist in the discharge of patients. - Ensure discharged patients awaiting transport home are transferred to a transit lounge to assist in clearing inpatient beds as early as possible.
Queen Elizabeth II Jubilee Hospital	0	N/A
Redcliffe Hospital	5	- Awaiting discharges, patients will be admitted to a bed as soon as possible.
Redland Hospital	3	- Awaiting discharges, patients will be admitted to a bed as soon as possible.
Robina Hospital	8	- Awaiting discharges, patients will be admitted to a bed as soon as possible.
Rockhampton Base Hospital	9	- Awaiting discharges, patients will be admitted to a bed as soon as possible.
Royal Brisbane & Women's Hospital	18	- Bed management is co-ordinated centrally via a Patient Flow Unit. - Early morning bed meetings to assist in finding beds to place patients. - Early morning review of inpatients by medical and nursing staff to assist in the discharge of patients. - Ensure discharged patients awaiting transport home are transferred to a transit lounge to assist in clearing inpatient beds as early as possible. - All beds in the hospital are not to remain vacant for longer than 30 minutes whilst a patient is waiting for a bed anywhere in the hospital complex. - All physical beds open.
Royal Children's Hospital	1	- Patient will be moved to the ward following expected am discharges.
The Prince Charles Hospital	2	- Awaiting discharges, patients will be admitted to a bed as soon as possible.
Toowoomba Hospital	8	- Awaiting discharges, patients will be admitted to a bed as soon as possible.
Townsville Hospital	13	- Waiting bed management meeting held at 8am, 9am and 12 noon. - Registrars to review patients for discharge. - Bed management meeting at 3pm and involvement of specialists regarding alternative arrangement. - Postpone selective elective surgery. - Contact referring hospitals to defer patient transfers and accept early transfer of patients back. - Activate intervention by senior nursing staff.

*Bypass data February-April 2010: PA (approx 10%) and Logan (approx 15%) spent most time on bypass. 15 Hospitals spent no time on bypass, 4 spent around 3% on bypass, 4 spent between 3%-10% on bypass.

*Extreme Capacity data February - April 2010: Cairns, PA and Townsville spent 40% plus on ECA. Bundy, GC, Ipswich, Logan, Redcliffe and RBWH spent 20% to 40% on ECA. Redland and Caboolture spent 10%- 20% on ECA. Rest below 10%.

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Last Updated: 09 September 2010
Last Reviewed: 09 September 2010