Southern emergency department data shows some patients are less likely to be seen by a doctor on time than those with less need.
The five Australasian College of Emergency Medicine triage categories are not publicised, and the Southern District Health Board played down their significance when releasing the 2012 calendar year data.
Triage 1 patients are deemed to need treatment within a minute, and all patients (331) at Dunedin, Southland, and Lakes District emergency departments were seen on time.
In triage 2, 80% of patients should be seen within 10 minutes. In Dunedin, this was met for 60% of patients (3157), in Southland 66% (1023), at Lakes District for 55% (173).
In triage 3, in Dunedin, 36% of patients (5211) were seen within the 30-minute triage time. Just over half of the triage 4 patients were seen on time (an hour) in Dunedin (Southland 78%, Lakes District 63%).
In the least urgent triage 5, 85% (1837) in Dunedin were seen on time (two hours; Southland, 93%, Lakes District 87%).
Asked for comment, Dunedin ED specialist John Chambers, the Association of Salaried Medical Specialists Otago representative, agreed with the DHB management view that caution was needed in interpreting the figures.
Many patients were assessed and treated before they were seen by a doctor. However, this was not true in all cases.
''But not all who exceed recommended waiting times have had interventions - many have just been waiting well beyond a time period felt appropriate by our skilled triage nurses.
''So not meeting the [Australasian college] guidelines for `time to be seen' does continue to mean something for some individual patients, and can reflect a lack of available staff resources/space,'' Dr Chambers said.
The department's performance against the official six-hour Government target for treat or transfer had slipped in the past couple of months, Dr Chambers said.
DHB communications director Steve Addison, releasing the data under the Official Information Act, said the health board's focus was the six-hour target, which had seen an overall improvement over the past year.
He provided a Ministry of Health statement which said EDs now had ''multiple pathways'' including advanced nursing care.
''Triage waiting times as a useful performance measure are based on a care model involving a single queue for a single resource - the doctor.
''Waiting times to see an appropriate clinician are still very important, but the current triage waiting times as discussed do not capture performance as well as some people think.
''Waiting in a waiting room with nothing happening is very different from being in a cubicle with a drip in, blood tests sent, X-rays done and painkillers given, while still not seen by a doctor.''
