While patients at Dunedin Hospital with acute conditions continue to be seen immediately in the emergency department, last year the hospital was still slower than most other centres to see less serious cases.
In the latest Ministry of Health hospital benchmark report recording hospitals' performance for the last quarter of last year, the Otago District Health Board was seeing only 56.5% of triage 2 patients within 10 minutes when the aim is to see 80% of this type of patient within that time.
The board was 19th out of 21 in this category and last in the triage 3 category, where the aim is to see 75% of patients within 30 minutes.
Otago managed a 32.4% rate in this area, against the national average of 48.8%.
On the positive side, the board continued to score highly in patient satisfaction, where it was fifth overall with a rate of almost 90%, and rated second for respect given to patients.
The reports show that nationally all hospitals are seeing urgent patients immediately.
The reports are produced quarterly by the ministry and measure the hospitals against 15 benchmarks.
A ministry spokesman said the reports helped hospitals measure their performance against one another and look for ways to improve.
