The next round of Western Australian hospitals is set to commence the State Government’s Four Hour Rule Program aimed at ensuring 98 per cent of Emergency Department (ED) patients are seen and admitted, discharged or transferred within a four hour timeframe.
Bunbury Regional Hospital, Joondalup Health Campus, Rockingham General Hospital, Swan District Hospital and Armadale-Kelmscott Memorial Hospital will start the Four Hour Rule Program today.
Health Minister Kim Hames said the program was a huge undertaking that required individual hospital sites to examine their processes from admission through to discharge and find areas for improvement.
“The Liberal-National Government is committed to ensuring patients receive the highest standard of care within a reasonable timeframe, and the Four Hour Rule Program is designed to do just that,” Dr Hames said.
“The second wave of hospitals starting the program today has two years to achieve this significant target.
“This is a unique opportunity for all staff across all areas of the hospital to get involved and change the way they do business.
“This is not just about EDs but will mean a whole of hospital transformation with the views of staff, patients and carers contributing to the end results.”
The Minister said hospital staff would work with patients and their representatives to redesign processes and to identify ways to improve the delivery of in-hospital care.
“This is a serious reform of the way our hospitals operate and will take time to get right so we need to manage expectations of how quickly improvements will be shown in waiting times.”
Royal Perth, Sir Charles Gairdner, Princess Margaret and Fremantle hospitals were the first to start the program in April 2009.
Doctors, nurses, allied health and support staff at those hospitals have been working hard to create ways to improve their hospital processes and systems.
“These hospitals are now moving into their solutions phase which will look at implementing improvements in a way which will be unique to each hospital’s needs,” Dr Hames said.
Stage One sites will be expected to reach the target by April 2011. Stage Two sites will have until late 2011 to reach the target.
Minister's office - 9222 8788