Western NSW public hospitals maintain performance amid significant demand

The latest Bureau of Health Information (BHI) Healthcare Quarterly Report (July – September 2025) shows Western NSW Local Health District maintained its planned surgery and emergency department performance despite increasing demand for emergency care.

WNSWLHD Chief Executive Mark Spittal praised the District’s entire workforce for their dedication to providing safe, timely and high-quality care for all patients in western NSW, throughout another challenging winter period.

“That performance is a testament to our workforce’s commitment to their communities, and I want to thank them once again for their time, effort and dedication, which continue to be the linchpin for our people to get the care they need, when and where they need it most.

This type of report is so valuable as it shows us where our hospitals are performing well, but also highlights the areas where we can improve. We are committed to applying what we learn, so our communities continue to have access to the best care possible."

During the third quarter of 2025 there were 51,459 attendances to the District’s EDs, including significant increases in the volume of patients presenting with emergency (triage category 2) and urgent (triage category 3) conditions.

From July to September 2025, the number of patients presenting to our EDs with an imminently life-threatening condition (triage category 2) increased to 6,082 – up 10.3 per cent, or 570 presentations, compared to the same quarter of 2024.

There were also 17,074 patients who presented with urgent (triage category 3) conditions, up 7.4 per cent or 1,170 presentations compared to the same quarter in 2024.

Despite this increase in high acuity demand, almost three quarters of patients (72.2 per cent) started treatment on time, which is significantly better than the NSW result (64.2 per cent). Across all triage categories the percentage of patients starting their treatment on time was better than the state result.

Despite increases in emergency presentations, more than eight in 10 patients (83 per cent) who arrived by ambulance were transferred to ED staff within the 30-minute benchmark, an improvement of 2.2 percentage points from the same quarter of 2024.

Healthcare Quarterly July to September 2025 key figures:

All patients are seen and triaged on arrival at the ED and, as always, the most seriously unwell patients are treated first. During busy times, people with less urgent conditions can experience longer wait times when there are large numbers of seriously unwell patients being prioritised for emergency care.

NSW Health has worked with the Australian College of Emergency Medicine to introduce new Hospital Access Targets for local health districts and specialty health networks relating to the time from arrival to leaving the emergency department.

These new targets are designed to support safe patient care and reflect the complexity of patient needs and the diverse pathways patients may take once they present to an ED.

This is the third Healthcare Quarterly report to reflect the new targets. Due to the change in reporting, the results for the new Hospital Access Targets cannot be compared to the previous July to September 2024 quarter.

The BHI Healthcare Quarterly report shows that 70.9 per cent of patients who presented to Western NSW EDs and did not require admission or transfer to another hospital, were treated and discharged within four hours, which is above the state result of 63.2 per cent.

The District continues to work incredibly hard to ensure patients requiring planned surgery receive their procedures as soon as possible. There were 3,225 planned surgeries performed across the District during the July to September 2025 quarter.

Almost nine in 10 patients (88.3 per cent) had their planned surgery on time and almost all urgent planned surgeries (98.5 per cent) were performed on time.

The roll out of Safe Staffing Levels is supporting staff and ensuring better experiences for patients with over 41.55 FTE nurses recruited for emergency departments so far across the District.

The District reminds the community that free health advice is available 24/7 by calling Healthdirect on 1800 022 222. A nurse will answer your call, ask some questions and connect you with the right care.

There were 845 babies born in Western NSW Local Health District during the second quarter of 2025.

More information and data related to individual hospitals across the District can be found on the BHI website.