Tamworth hospital worst in the Hunter New England Health district for patients starting treatment on time

Bureau of Health Information data reveals Tamworth had the worst result for patients starting treatment on time out of every hospital in the Hunter New England Health (HNEH) district.

Not long ago, patients receiving end-of-life care were moved out of the palliative ward Nioka, as COVID-19 patients were moved in.

It was one of a number of temporary changes put in place to deal with increasing pandemic pressure, HNEH rural and regional services executive director Susan Heyman said.

"The quarter we are talking about was when we were dealing with Delta and Omicron starting, over the last two years the virus has hit metropolitan areas first and we got the brunt later than the rest of the district," she said.

"We thank our staff for the job they did but also the community for being patient - perhaps we were a bit slower at that time getting to all the patients, but they were certainly responding well.

"For this recent outbreak we used the Nioka ward because it's a contained ward and people were able to be isolated in it.

"The most important thing is the care provided, and the care provided to the palliative care patients was the same as if they were in Nioka."

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Just 57.7 per cent of patients started treatment on time in the reporting period from October to December, 2021, down five per cent for the same time in 2020.

And, while the pandemic may have deterred some people from visiting emergency - more than 10,300 still turned up in the three-month period needing help.

Tamworth's ED presentations were down 6.7 per cent, but it still faced the third-highest number in the district, above Newcastle's Calvary Mater Hospital.

While it may have faced difficulties in emergency, Tamworth fared the best for surgeries performed on time - up 19.9 per cent.

Ms Heyman said regional hospitals like Armidale, Gunnedah and Moree also performed surgeries on-time.

"While presentations to emergency were impacted with timeliness of care, we kept our surgery activity going really well and Tamworth improved its performance by nearly 20 per cent," she said.

"I think we owe a massive thank you to all of our staff for their willingness to step up and support the hospital and community."

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