Tasmania's peak medical body says waiting times in emergency departments across the state are "getting worse" after new data showed fewer patients were being seen within recommended time frames.
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The Australian Medical Association's Public Hospital Report Card, released Saturday, showed though median times for elective surgery had declined from 45 to 42 days, patients in emergency departments did not fare so well.
According to the report, the number of urgent emergency department patients seen within the recommended time of 30 minutes or less dropped again in 2017-18 to just more than 55 per cent, from a recent peak in 2013-14 of more than 65 per cent.
The number of emergency department visits completed in under four hours also reached the lowest point since 2013-14, with only 64 per cent of patients seen within the time frame.
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In a statement Saturday, AMA Tasmania vice president Dr John Davis said resources were needed now, "not next year, or the year after that".
A government spokesperson said admissions to Tasmania's emergency departments had increased by 21 per cent in the past three years, though similar demands and challenges faced emergency departments across the country.
As the government recognised the "increased demand", funding had recently been increased by $5 million per year in emergency departments "in addition to the $1.5 million previously provided, and on top of the record $757 million investment in health."
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