More than 40 per cent of the people who presented to Tasmanian hospital emergency departments in 2020-21 were not seen within the recommended time frame for their condition.
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The recent Productivity Commission Report on Government Services on health services showed 57 per cent of patients who needed to be seen within 10 minutes were seen within that time frame.
This was the worst result out of all the states for the emergency triage category.
The result was down from the 66 per cent seen within the recommended time frame in 2019-20.
Forty-nine per cent of patients who needed to be seen within 30 minutes in 2020-21 were seen within that time frame, down from 58 per cent the previous year.
Twenty-three per cent of people who presented to an emergency department and were admitted to hospital waited four hours or less for admission.
Nationally, 42 per cent of presentations who needed to be admitted waited four hours or less.
As for the public hospital elective surgery waiting list, there were 21,307 additions in 2020-21 and 18,313 removals.
In 2019-20, there were 8851 additions to the elective surgery waiting list and 15,195 removals.
The waiting time for elective surgery in Tasmania was the highest in the country at 588 days for 90 per cent of patients.
This represented a significant rise in the waiting time of 363 days in 2019-20.
The waiting time nationally for elective surgery was 348 days for 90 per cent of patients in 2020-21.
This was up from 281 days in 2019-20.
The rate of infections related to health care in Tasmanian hospitals was slightly above the national average of 0.7 patients per 10,000 patients.
The Productivity Commission noted that 11.2 per cent of Tasmanians did not see a mental health professional at least once in 12 months due to the cost involved.
It said 52.4 per cent of people with a mental health condition who presented to an emergency department in 2019-20 were seen within the clinically recommended time.
The national average for this indicator was 68 per cent.
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Political reporter for Australian Community Media, based in Hobart.
Political reporter for Australian Community Media, based in Hobart.
