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Be a patient emergency department patient this Christmas
Hunter New England Health is asking the community to be patient if they need to use a hospital emergency department during the Christmas holiday period, which is traditionally a very busy time of year for emergency departments.
John Hunter Hospital Emergency Medicine Service Director Catherine Foster said while emergency department staff work hard to keep waiting times down, the increased demand over the holiday period may mean that people with less urgent conditions may have to wait until more urgent cases are seen.
“It’s important to understand that emergency departments are for people requiring immediate medical attention for urgent, unexpected conditions. While we wouldn’t turn anyone anyway, our priority is to treat the most serious cases first,” Ms Foster said.
“This is why emergency departments have a ‘triage’ system in place to ensure that people needing urgent medical treatment are cared for first. They do not operate on a first-come-first-served basis.
“When a patient arrives in the emergency department a triage nurse will assess them as soon as possible to determine the severity of their illness or injury and an appropriate timeframe for the patient to be treated will be assigned based on a triage category assessment,” Ms Foster said.
“If you see a person arriving after you and being treated before you, it may be because their condition requires more urgent care. Patients in the waiting room can’t see behind the scenes and they don’t see the number of critical patients arriving by ambulance.
“However, if your condition changes while you are waiting to see the doctor, please let the triage nurse know and they will reassess you,” Ms Foster said.
Ms Foster said there are a number of reasons why there is an increased demand for emergency departments over the Christmas holiday period.
“People tend to be more active during the holiday season and there tends to be more people on the roads which unfortunately can lead to more people getting injured and seeking treatment in the emergency department,” Ms Foster said
“We also tend to see an increase in patients presenting with stomach problems since Christmas is often a time for overindulging in food or not storing food under optimal conditions.
“The best Christmas present you can give your family is to take precautions and keep yourself safe so that you don’t end up spending time in an emergency department waiting room this holiday period.”
Emergency Department contact numbers:
For a full list of Emergency Department and Health Service contacts, please visit www.hnehealth.nsw.gov.au/services_and_facilities
Contact: Sharna McCarthy
Phone: 02 4921 4501
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