Lower emergency department (ED) wait times have coincided with the ongoing implementation of safe staffing ratios as well as widespread uptake of urgent and virtual care health services.
But Health Minister Ryan Park reiterates that while significant improvements have been made, hospitals continue to experience high demand, and more is being done to relieve pressure on EDs.
Lower wait times & ramping
NSW hospitals achieved the highest T2 emergency treatment on time performance and lowest ambulance ramping for a June quarter since the pandemic.
Western Sydney has led the way in improved ED wait times and ramping, with the proportion of T2 emergency patients being treated on time increasing by almost a third (from 29 per cent of T2 patients to 37.5), compared to the same quarter in 2024.
Ramping is also improving with the proportion of patients transferred to ED within 30 minutes increasing by a quarter over the past year (from 60.9 per of patients to 76.2).
At Blacktown Hospital, the proportion of T2 emergency patients treated on time almost doubled from the previous year (from 17.7 per cent of T2 patients to 31.4). It has almost tripled over the past three years (from 10.6 per cent of T2 patients in the June 2022 quarter).
Ramping at Blacktown Hospital has also improved with the proportion of patients transferred to ED within 30 minutes increasing.
This means the sickest patients - T2 emergency patients - are being treated quicker, paramedics are getting back on the road faster, and the system is working more effectively and efficiently.
Overdue surgeries are also down more than 85 per cent since they peaked in the June quarter in 2022.
More staff
The improved ED wait times and reduced ramping coincides with the workforce adding almost 3,000 FTE workers over the past year including approximately 1,200 additional FTE nurses - as health worker retention rates return to pre-pandemic levels.
This includes almost 500 additional nurses recruited to hospital EDs over the past year as part of the Minns Labor Government's implementation of safe staffing ratios, which will see a total of 2,480 additional nurses join our EDs.
More ED alternatives
Lower wait times and ramping also coincide with 222,000 patients being diverted away from EDs in the year to 30 June 2025, thanks to Healthdirect, with many patients being referred to the NSW Government's urgent and virtual care services.
It also coincides with increased treatment of patients from the comfort of their own home through the Hospital in the Home initiative.
More to do
The Minns Labor Government has rolled out its $500 million ED relief package which has seen:
- The recent completion of the rollout of virtual urgent care services available now across the entire state;
- 222,000 patients referred to non-ED pathways for care including urgent and virtual care services;
- Investment in the Hospital in the Home initiative which allows patients to complete recovery out of the hospital and from the comfort of their own home;
- The recruitment and deployment of discharge concierges to help identify patients for safe discharge from hospital more quickly, freeing up beds;
- The development of a new ambulance matrix which will equip paramedics with real-time data to optimise patient destination decisions, incorporating embedded referral pathways to direct patients to appropriate alternative care settings when clinically appropriate, thereby reducing unnecessary ED visits;; and
- The expansion of short stay units with an additional 22 short stay treatment spaces across five hospitals - designed to treat patients with less serious conditions and move them through the system more quickly.
One of those short stay units is located at Campbelltown Hospital's Children's Short Stay Unit - with children under 16 making up more than a quarter of Campbelltown Hospital's more than 91,000 ED presentations last year.
Opened earlier this year, it sees more than 100 children each week for less serious conditions like asthma, gastroenteritis, abdominal pain, and injuries such as fractures, sprains and dislocations.
Quotes attributable to Minister for Health Ryan Park:
"We're investing in more staff, more hospitals and more beds, more quickly, and we're seeing lower wait times and less ramping.
"While lower ED wait times and ramping are promising, there is still more to be done.
"I want to thank staff for their amazing work in delivering these significant improvements.
"During periods of high demand, those with less urgent conditions can experience longer wait times when there are large numbers of seriously unwell patients being prioritised for emergency care.
"So I want to remind the community of your options for care outside of the hospital which could spare you an unnecessary wait in an ED.
