Record number of patients through hospital Emergency Department with wait times up

A RECORD number of patients presented to the Emergency Department at Hamilton Base Hospital in 2022/23, highlighting the urgent need for funding to upgrade the Emergency Department and Intensive Care Unit. Photo: SPEC FILE.

By Lizzie Hallam

August 19, 2023 | 4:00 PM

THE Emergency Department (ED) at Western District Health Service’s (WDHS) Hamilton Base Hospital has had a record number of presentations in a year, up to 10,035 for 2022/23.

This likely accounts for the uptick in wait times for patients to be seen at the ED as reported in the latest quarterly statistics for the period April - June 2023 by the Victorian Agency for Health Information (VAHI).