By LACHLAN MOORHEAD
CASEY Hospital admitted more than 1800 extra patients in the 2013 December quarter than in the same period last year, according to the most recent Health Services data released last week by the State Government.
The latest statistics released by the government last Thursday indicate that 9201 patients were admitted to Casey Hospital in the three months to the end of December last year, compared to 7334 admissions in the same period a year earlier.
While 3895 emergency patients were admitted to Casey Hospital in the December quarter for 2013 up from 2941 emergency admissions a year earlier.
Health Minister David Davis last week said the statistics showed that Victorian hospitals were treating patients more quickly, with a median time to treatment of 19 minutes down from 21 minutes in the previous three months and 20 minutes a year earlier.
But Labor MP for Cranbourne Jude Perera has slammed the state hospitals as being in “crisis” after the statistics revealed that only 83 per cent of Casey Hospital’s emergency department Category 2 patients were treated within 10 minutes, down from 93 per cent in 2012.
“It’s official the crisis in Victorian hospitals is continuing under Denis Napthine,” Mr Perera said last week.
“Data shows that Casey Hospital’s emergency department is in meltdown, ambulances are spending hours stuck outside and more people are waiting in pain for surgery.”
The government’s latest Health Service data also indicated that the Cranbourne Integrated Care Centre had admitted 129 more patients in the three months to the end of December 2013 compared to a year earlier – from 2934 patients to 3063.
And 44 emergency patients were admitted for the December 2013 quarter, up from 33 admissions in the previous three months.
But Mr Perera again hit back at the data, criticising the Cranbourne Integrated Care Centre’s current elective surgery wait list which totalled 1328 patients.
After the release of the new data, Labor’s Narre Warren North MP Luke Donnellan called for Victorian Government to use the upcoming state budget to reverse the cuts it made to hospitals in Casey and Dandenong.
“We have had to endure three years of funding cuts to our hospital system, which is now in crisis, and the Napthine Government has failed to deliver the beds at Casey it promised in opposition, meaning residents requiring care are waiting longer for surgeries,” Mr Donnellan said.
