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Emergency presentations to Griffith Base Hospital have increased by just over 1400 in the past decade, according to a nationwide report.
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The latest MyHospitals update from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare has also revealed 100 per cent of patients received treatment within 10 minutes of arriving in 2021 and 2022 - a 14 per cent improvement since 2012.
The figures dipped from 86 per cent in 2012 to 80 per cent in 2016-17, but went on to reach the current mark thereafter.
Emergency presentations rose from 1283 in 2012 to a peak of 2721 in 2019, just prior to the onset of COVID.
Naturally rates climbed as the pandemic came on, but dipped slightly from 2357 in 2020-21 to 2309 in 2021/22.
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Meanwhile, the average amount of time patients spent in emergency at Griffith Base increased from just over two hours in 2012-13 to two hours and 29 minutes in 2021-22.
The number of those requiring urgent elective surgery dropped from 340 in 2012-13 to 271 in 2021-22.
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Griffith Base is currently in the throes of a $250 million redevelopment scheduled for completion in 2025, a promising sign for the future.
"From what I've noticed the hospital is going from strength to strength," long-time Griffith healthcare campaigner Brendan Catanzariti said..
"It's going to get better through the upgrade and with the availability of new services such as orthopedics. That's something we're going to need as we grow in population," he said.
Across Australia, emergency presentations increased over the last five years, from 8.01 million in 2017-18 to 8.79 million in 2021-22, an average annual rise of 2.3 per cent, although figures fluctuated during COVID-affected years.
The AIHW report revealed the number of hospitalisations involving a COVID-19 diagnosis jumped significantly from 4700 in 2020-21 to 263,400 the following year.
"This does not necessarily reflect the severity of the illness; it could be related to the widespread nature of COVID-19," institute spokesperson Dr Adrian Webster said.
"In many cases patients are admitted with COVID-19, not necessarily because of COVID-19."
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