RECEIVING treatment in the emergency department of a regional hospital is getting quicker but costing more, recent data has revealed.
The WA Country Health annual report released last month shows in 2014, 85.8 per cent of patients presenting to a regional emergency department were admitted, transferred or discharged within four hours.
This was about the 2014 state average or 79.7 per cent and the national average of 85 per cent.
But the average cost of an emergency department attendance has continued to grow to $838 in 2015.
The target has risen from $312 in 2010-11 to $737 in 2014-15 while the actual costs has remaining substantially higher than the target in each of the past five years.
The report attributed the higher cost to an increase in funding for the Southern Inland Health initiative which supports improved services in regional emergency departments.
The report also showed that the number of unplanned readmissions within a month of being discharged was 3.2 per cent, marginally higher than the 3 per cent target.
This statistic indicated good clinical practice is in operation.
WA Country Health has set a new target for 2015 to see 90 per cent of patients presenting to public hospital emergency departments admitted, transferred or discharged within four hours where clinically appropriate.
