PATIENT satisfaction with Tamworth hospital's emergency department declined between 2020 and 2022.
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Visitors to the Tamworth emergency department (ED) rated overall care, whether treatment helped them, and wait times, worse in patient survey results from July 2021 to June 2022, than July 2020 to June 2021.
The amount of respondents rating the overall care they received in Tamworth ED as the best option, 'very good', dropped by 6 per cent, according to Bureau of Health Information (BHI) emergency department survey data.
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Respondents rating overall care as 'very poor' also grew, from 0 per cent to a total of 4 per cent in the recent figures.
Health services across NSW, including Tamworth hospital, were presented with significant challenges including the Delta and Omicron waves of COVID-19 during the outlined period, a spokesperson for the Hunter New England Health (HNEH) district said.
"Despite the challenges, Tamworth hospital performed quite well across a number of measures," the spokesperson said.
HNEH saw a slight uptick in satisfaction, with respondents rating overall care 1 per cent higher in recent figures, reaching 60 per cent. But, the amount of respondents selecting the 'very poor' option grew by 1 per cent to 3 per cent.
There was record demand for emergency care in HNEH hospitals between October and December 2022, and presentations to the ED grew to 1,369, according to BHI's end of year report.
Tamworth was below the state average of patients leaving the ED within four hours.
In the patient survey data, 91 per cent needed to wait for treatment in Tamworth ED in the period to June 2022, and 89 per cent across HNEH.
The majority, 54 per cent, of Tamworth ED visitors were not told by staff how long they would need to wait to be treated. The results were the same for HNEH.
The survey provides a snapshot of the experiences of 234 people who attended Tamworth hospital's ED, the spokesperson said, but acknowledged the findings of the survey show there's more work to be done to improve overall experience at Tamworth hospital, including communication with patients around wait times.
HNEH recorded a slightly higher percentage of patients with knowledge of wait times than in the period to June 2021, but more patients in Tamworth ED were recorded as going without information on wait times than the previous period.
Patients in ED are always triaged and seen according to the clinical urgency of their condition, the spokesperson said, where possible, the nurse may provide patients with an estimated wait time to receive treatment from a doctor.
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