Beat Medical Blog

The Art and Zen of fudging emergency waiting times

Posted by Beat Medical

As a health consumer, I welcome the Federal Government’s $500 million plan to halve waiting times in emergency departments. It is admirable, and in honesty there are few things that would break your heart more than seeing a member of your own family waiting on an ambulance trolley in a hallway for a day in an overstretched emergency department.

As a medical recruiter, and a former health service manager, I know that halving waiting times is most likely too good to be true.

In many hospitals, particularly in regional areas, management exacts severe pressure on emergency doctors to ensure that waiting times are reduced. This sometimes involves pushing them beyond reasonable hours of work, and most frightening – insisting that junior trainees work in supervisory positions, after hours with little or no support from senior staff.