Maitland MP Jenny Aitchison says data showing the town's new hospital has the highest patient walkout rate in NSW is more evidence the health system needs "structural repair".
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Bureau of Health Information data for the September quarter shows 2481 patients, or 21.4 per cent, left Maitland Hospital emergency department without treatment or without completing treatment, an 83 per cent rise compared with the old hospital's performance in September 2021.
Maitland's walkout numbers were an improvement on the 3300 who quit the hospital in the June 2022 quarter.
Patient walkouts increased 87 per cent in emergency departments across NSW compared with 2021. John Hunter Hospital had 2153 patients walk out, up 68.7 per cent on 2021 levels.
Maitland's rate of treating patients in a benchmark time was also poor at 45 per cent, down 15.3 percentage points on 2021 and way below the 62.8 per cent average of similar-sized NSW hospitals.
The $470 million hospital had easily the worst treatment-on-time performance of the 15 Hunter New England Health district hospitals.
The BHI figures also show Maitland Hospital's treatment-on-time record has deteriorated against the state average since it moved to its new campus in January 2022.
Before the move, in the December 2021 quarter, the hospital's treatment-on-time performance was 13.5 percentage points below the state average.
The difference between the Maitland and state treatment-on-time rates jumped to 19.4 percentage points in the March 2022 quarter and has stayed around 20 per cent since then.
John Hunter treated 60.8 per cent of patients on time in September 2022, down 7.7 per cent on 2021.
The Daily Telegraph reported on Friday that minutes of the most recent Maitland Hospital staff council meeting in April showed doctors questioning how the hospital was being run.
"Maitland is not staffed because it costs money the organisation is not willing to spend, the discharge pressure is so high, we are doing unmitigated high-risk discharges," one doctor said.
Another said: "Our bed capacity, lack of critical-care units, unopened wards and ICU functional level are all crisis situations."
Ms Aitchison said Labor would recruit another 1200 nurses and midwives across NSW if it won next month's election, in addition to the 10,148 the Coalition committed to employ over four years in last year's budget.
The Opposition has also committed to minimum hospital staff levels, starting with emergency departments.
"Our health system needs structural repair," Ms Aitchison said.
"If Labor are elected, we are committed to taking urgent action."
IN THE NEWS
Michael Parris
Michael Parris reports on politics for the Newcastle Herald. He started at the Herald in 1994 after working in the ABC Newcastle newsroom. Michael spent much of his career as a sub-editor before moving into political reporting in 2017. He was a finalist in the Sports Australia national media awards for his stories about a male-only tennis club in Newcastle. He has covered NSW and federal elections, state and federal budgets and local politics. He has also written extensively about the COVID-19 pandemic with a special focus on data analysis and the effects of lockdowns on the Hunter community.
Michael Parris reports on politics for the Newcastle Herald. He started at the Herald in 1994 after working in the ABC Newcastle newsroom. Michael spent much of his career as a sub-editor before moving into political reporting in 2017. He was a finalist in the Sports Australia national media awards for his stories about a male-only tennis club in Newcastle. He has covered NSW and federal elections, state and federal budgets and local politics. He has also written extensively about the COVID-19 pandemic with a special focus on data analysis and the effects of lockdowns on the Hunter community.
