University Hospital Zurich
Raemistrasse 100 Zurich, Zurich (Switzerland)
German Hospital Service
Destouchesstr. 1 Munchen, Bayern (Germany)
Moorfields Eye Hospital NHS Trust
162 City Road London, Greater London (UK)
Flinders Medical Centre
Flinders Drive, Bedford Park South Australia (Australia)
Busy emergency rooms stretch budgets
A steady rise in numbers at emergency departments at Invercargill and Dunedin had created quota heightened state of anxietyquot ahead of budgeting for the annual plan the Southern District Health Board deputy chairman said
There were 2749 emergency room visits at Southland Hospital in February compared to 2579 in February 2011
January had also shown a similar rise in emergency department visits
Total acute admissions for illness injury or recovering from surgery was also on the rise with 1834 in February compared with 1714 in February 2011 at Southland Hospital
Southern District Health Board deputy chairman Paul Menzies said an annual quotincremental increasequot in emergency department numbers had board members asking if another budget blowout for the provider arm would be repeated in the next financial year
Last week the committee heard the boards provider arm was in a deficit of 73000 for February when a 11 million surplus had been expected
Mr Menzies said the added pressure on hospital staff was in part due to the number of people turning up to ED at Southland and Dunedin hospitals Numbers had been increasing nationally for about 10 years However in Southland and Otago these numbers though not the worst in the country quotwere standoutquot from district health boards nationally
Budgets to accommodate the increase in ED attendance were guesses Mr Menzies said It was also guesswork what the increase in attendance was caused by
The health board has been pushing a campaign at Dunedin Hospital and Southland Hospital to keep the ED for emergencies only It was difficult to tell how many of the attendances were medical conditions that should have been seen by a GP not an ED doctor
Mr Menzies speculated that the student population combined with a transient population may contribute to the high number of visits He added that there were possibly wider reasons the ED was used frequently
The Southland Times has reported on difficulties for some people who are unable to enroll with a GP in the last 16 months in Invercargill
Mr Menzies said the growing pressure on the ED was a situation that was being seen in the rest of New Zealand as well as the Southern district quotHigher attendance puts pressure on the whole of the hospitalquot
In light of the January and February budget blowouts committee member Richard Thomson asked last week if the provider arm was being unrealistic in its budgeting The number of acute cases was clearly not abating he said In both January and February 29 per cent of the ED attendances at Southland Hospital were admitted into acute care
Date : 13 Apr, 2012
Reference : http://www.stuff.co.nz/southland-times/news/6734796/Busy-emergency-rooms-stretch-budgets