DESPITE Boxing Day 2015 being one of the busiest times in recent memory for the Bega District Hospital’s emergency department, by New Year’s eve and day everything was running much more smoothly.
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On New Year’s eve and day the hospital had 45 and 50 presentations and, according to Bega Valley Health Service general manager Heather Austin, the staff managed very well.
“The extremely busy period over Christmas was not quite replicated and we had rostered some additional staff on duty to cover additional presentations,” Ms Austin said.
“We always roster differently across the Christmas period to cover the surge in activity and we review the activity of previous years in order to judge the likely level of activity.”
On Boxing Day last year, 70 people were treated through the emergency department, which was almost double last December’s average of 40 people.
Ms Austin said Bega Hospital has exemplary performance indicators in terms of emergency department waiting times and treatment, admission and discharge that are among the best in NSW.
“We are really proud of our ED, I expect that the new SERH [South East Regional Hospital] will enable us to handle busy periods more easily,” she said.
SERH is set to open the week beginning March 7.
