Australia?s hospitals overwhelmed and ?about to get much worse?, warns AMA - The Guardian Australia

Hospitals were overwhelmed during last year’s lockdowns, with wait times for emergency departments and surgeries blowing out despite dramatically reduced patient volumes.

“What we had was a once-in-a-generation event - a dramatic reduction in hospitalisation from accidents, injuries and illness.

Australians seeking emergency treatment within 30 minutes only had a one-in-three chance of being seen on time in the ACT, the report found, while patients in South Australia and Western Australia had a one-in-two chance, and New South Wales patients had a 75% chance.

Just 69% of Australians hoping to leave the emergency department in four hours or sooner were treated within the timeframes, even though the number of patients dropped by 1.4% from 2019 to 2020.

And despite there being a hold on non-urgent elective surgeries, only 75% of category 2 patients were treated within the recommended timeframe.

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A key measure of a hospital’s capacity to cope - the number of beds available - has also been on a downward trend for the past 27 years, and hasn’t improved during the pandemic.