More children have presented at the Queensland Children’s Hospital emergency department across the June quarter, with clinicians responding to 81 per cent of patients within the clinically recommended timeframe - a 3 per cent increase (from 78 per cent) from the previous quarter (January to March 2024).
All category 1 patients (most urgent) continue to be seen within the recommended time.
The Queensland Children’s Hospital emergency department recorded 19,691 presentations in the June quarter, a slight increase from 19,553 presentations in the March quarter of 2024.
The median wait time across all five categories was 14 minutes, compared with 16 minutes in the previous March quarter.
All category 1 patients (most urgent) were seen within 1 minute of presentation.
Children’s Health Queensland Chief Executive Frank Tracey said: “On any given day the Queensland Children’s Hospital provides care to more than 1,200 Queensland children and young people and our team is continually focused on improving care in our Emergency Department.”
“We’re committed to providing world-class paediatric care and our teams continue to innovate and evolve models of care to ensure children and young people are treated in a safe and timely manner.”
Children’s Health Queensland has focused on increasing safety and improving care in the emergency department by incorporating:
- a Clinical Initiatives Nurse (CIN) who ensures early identification of children who are becoming increasingly unwell
- a rapid ED follow-up clinic for children to access non-urgent specialised medical care
- more doctors in its short stay treatment area
- a senior flow nurse
- co-location with the acute response mental health team
- comprehensive supports focussed on First Nations Children and Families
- a follow up service for children who did not wait for treatment.