HOSPITALS across Hunter New England Health experienced a record number of emergency department attendances in the October to December 2020 quarter, new data shows.
Emergency department attendances across the region increased by 3.8 per cent during the last quarter. It was the highest quarterly number of attendances across the district ever reported by the Bureau of Health Information, according to its latest report.
The health district's chief executive, Michael DiRienzo, said staff worked tirelessly from October to December 2020 to get the region back to its pre-COVID-19 position during an "extremely busy holiday season".
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"This quarter came at the back end of what can only be described as a mammoth year in health, with the COVID-19 pandemic and the after-effects of postponed elective surgeries," Mr DiRienzo said.
"As the number of COVID-19 cases steadied, we saw an increase in the number of emergency department (ED) attendances across the district as we continued to recover from an unprecedented period for our health system.
"We remain focused on ensuring that those patients who had their elective surgery postponed due to the national cessation of non-urgent surgeries in response to COVID-19, receive their surgery as soon as possible. We're continuing to work with our private hospital partners to ensure this happens."
There were 22,933 ED attendances at John Hunter Hospital from October to December 2020 - 987 (or 4.5 per cent) more attendances than the same quarter in 2019.
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