Wollongong’s emergency department has seen a surge in arrivals by ambulance. Photo: Keeli Dyson.
Record high ambulance arrivals at Wollongong Hospital have been swiftly transferred into the ED, with the latest figures revealing faster handovers from paramedics and the largest percentage of patients starting treatment on time in more than four years.
New data from the Bureau of Health Information (BHI) has reported positive progress in some areas of hospital performance across the Illawarra Shoalhaven Local Health District (ISLHD) between April and June this year, despite increasing demand for services.
Wollongong Hospital’s emergency department recorded 6961 arrivals by ambulance over the three months, the highest number in BHI’s 12 years of data.
But the increase didn’t impact efficiency, with 89.1 per cent of patients transferred from paramedics to ED staff within 30 minutes, marking an 18.7 per cent increase from the same time last year and the highest percentage recorded since the equivalent quarter in 2020.
92.1 per cent of patients met that same benchmark at Shellharbour Hospital, however the number of arrivals through this avenue was lower than it had been in three years.
NSW Health Minister and Keira MP Ryan Park said the improved results coincided with the ongoing implementation of safe staffing ratios as well as the widespread uptake of urgent and virtual care services.
“Hospitals in the Illawarra and Shoalhaven have dramatically improved over the past three years,” Minister Park said.
“Labor has invested in more staff and more beds, and we’re seeing lower wait times and less ramping, but there is a long way to go.
“While these improvements are promising, there is still more to be done.”
Although the percentage of Wollongong ED patients that started treatment on time improved across every triage category compared to the same quarter in 2024, many patients spent long hours before they were discharged, admitted or transferred to another hospital, with results showing difficulty meeting the new NSW Health Hospital Access targets which were introduced at the start of this year.
Less than half of Wollongong ED patients were discharged within four hours, with more than 15 per cent of all attendances spending at least 12 hours in the department.
The median time spent for all attendances was five hours and three minutes.
“During periods of high demand, those with less urgent conditions can experience longer wait times when there are large numbers of seriously unwell patients being prioritised for emergency care,” Minister Park said.
“The district continues to utilise the ESSUs at Wollongong and Shoalhaven hospitals to provide short periods of ongoing treatment and observation for patients with moderately complex conditions, improving treatment times and patient flow in the ED,” ISLHD Executive Director Clinical Operations Margaret Martin said.
“Work is continuing on the expansion of Wollongong Hospital’s ESSU, which will provide six new treatment spaces, increasing the total from 10 to 16.”
Ms Martin encouraged the community to continue to utilise urgent care services and Healthdirect for minor illnesses and injury, with the latest figures potentially indicating that the services could be succeeding in keeping these cases out of ED.
“Pleasingly, there was a sustained decrease in the number of non-urgent presentations (triage category 5) this quarter, with 2306 presentations, a decrease of 13.1 per cent (349 presentations) compared with the same quarter last year,” Ms Martin said.
Across ISLHD, 3951 planned surgeries were also completed last quarter with 99.7 per cent of urgent planned surgeries performed on time.
“The district continued to make significant progress in reducing the number of people on the planned surgery wait list whose surgeries were overdue,” Ms Martin said.
“At the end of June 2025, 156 people were waiting longer than clinically recommended for planned surgery – the lowest number since the same quarter in 2019 (141), before the COVID-19 pandemic.
“These outstanding results are testament to the ongoing hard work and commitment of staff across multiple teams.”
The full report and data from April to June 2025 is available on the BHI website.
