Health Targets

Shorter stays in Emergency Departments

What is the target?

95 percent of patients will be admitted, discharged, or transferred from an Emergency Department (ED) within six hours.

Why is this target important?

Emergency Department (ED) length of stay is an important measure of the quality of acute (emergency and urgent) care in our public hospitals, because:

EDs are designed to provide urgent (acute) health care; the timeliness of treatment delivery (and any time spent waiting) is by definition important for patients
long stays in emergency departments are linked to overcrowding of the ED
the medical and nursing literature has linked both long stays and overcrowding in EDs to negative clinical outcomes for patients such as increased mortality and longer inpatient lengths of stay
overcrowding can also lead to compromised standards of privacy and dignity for patients, for instance, through the use of corridor trolleys to house patients.

Who is the target champion?

Professor Mike Ardagh, National Clinical Director of Emergency Department Services

Related information

Emergency Departments section

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Page last updated: 22 November 2009