The latest round of figures released by the Bureau of Health Information show 27.7 per cent of patients spent over four hours in SERH’s emergency department from October-December 2016.

This is a decrease from 30.9 per cent of patients in July–September in that year.

There was also a swell in patient numbers visiting the ED between the two quarters, as in the last three months of the year an extra 250 patients visited the department. 

But the number of elective surgery patients treated decreased. From October-December, 392 patients received elective surgery, while 440 had done so in the prior three months. 

At the end of December, about 800 elective surgery patients were ready for their operations, which was almost the same number as in the previous quarter. 

Surgery wait times for orthopaedic patients increased, with the median wait time for surgery 263 days, an increase from 214 days in the earlier quarter.