The number of people attending Cessnock Hospital's emergency department from January to March was up 4.6 per cent on the same period last year, the latest Bureau of Health Information report shows.
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The report also revealed the number of patients arriving at the hospital by ambulance increased by 25 per cent in the same period.
From January to March 2018, 4151 patients presented to Cessnock's emergency department. That increased over the same quarter this year to 4376 patients.
The increase at Cessnock was reflected in hospital emergency departments across the state with the report showing that more people attended NSW emergency departments during January to March than in any previous quarter on record.
Across the state, there were more than 750,000 emergency department (ED) attendances, an increase of 5.9 per cent from the same quarter in 2018.
Locally, there were 20,947 presentations to John Hunter Hospital ED, up 7.8 per cent from the same time last year. Calvary Mater Newcastle had a 10.7 per cent increase in the number of presentations and ED attendances at Belmont rose by 9 per cent. Maitland experienced an increase of 9.4 per cent, however, presentations to Kurri Kurri Hospital dropped by 1.6 per cent.
"Emergency departments across the state experienced high demand during the quarter, particularly from patients triaged as emergency or urgent, while there was also a notable 10 per cent increase in arrivals at emergency departments by ambulance," BHI chief executive, Dr Diane Watson, said.
AMA (NSW) President, Dr Kean-Seng Lim, said that in less than 10 years, there has been more than a 40 per cent increase in the number of patients presenting emergency departments.
