Emergency Department

The Emergency Department (ED) has a total of 18 examination bays and contains an eight-bed Short Stay Unit. Treatment spaces are made up of:

• Triage area
• Resuscitation cubicles
• Acute cubicles
• Fast track
• Short-stay unit

When you arrive at the emergency department, you will be screened and registered in accordance to COVID procedures, and ‘triaged’ (categorised) by a nurse.

The process of triage allocates you a category which reflects your clinical urgency to be seen, from a category 1 (Resuscitation) to a category 5 (Non-urgent). This is a standardised national approach to triage to ensure patients with the highest clinical urgency are prioritised. Our triage nurses are experienced emergency nurses who are well trained to determine your clinical need for medical treatment.

You may be asked the following questions by the triage nurse:

• Current health concerns and symptoms
• Previous health problems
• Current medications
• Recent overseas travel
• Allergies
• If you are pregnant or breastfeeding

Any other relevant information you think we should know about can be discussed

You will be seen by a doctor as soon as possible. People are seen in order of triage category, and then order of arrival within that category, depending on bed availability. In certain circumstances our team may be attending to a life-threatening condition in the department. This may result in an extended wait time. Please consider taking analgesia if you have pain or fever prior to presenting to the Emergency Department.

Patients will be treated in order of urgency; this ensures we attend to the sickest patients first. If you are concerned about your wait please discuss this respectfully with the triage nurse. We have a zero tolerance for aggression policy in our emergency department.

All people presenting for treatment will be assessed by the triage nurse.             

Please consider that while the waiting room may look empty, our emergency bays may still be full, which can impact upon your time to medical treatment.

The Emergency Department does not make appointments. Our unit aims to see the sickest patients as a priority.

At times, we may ask you to return at a set time for review or follow-up. We will try to see you ASAP, however, emergency presentations will always be prioritised.

We do not give advice over the telephone and cannot provide information about waiting times, as this can change within minutes.

You will be referred to the nurse on call service if you want medical phone advice, or can opt to contact these from home. 1300 60 60 24

you may be given the advice and guidance you need to stay well at home.

You can contact:

• Nurse on Call on 1300 60 60 24
• Your local GP / Pharmacist
• Poisons Information Hotline 13 11 26

The emergency department is a public department so all people who access Medicare will receive treatment free of charge.

Our team does see international visitors - this is a paid service with an upfront fee. Australia does have reciprocal care agreements with certain countries. If you wish to enquire about this fee prior to presenting, you are welcome to phone the hospital on 5022 3333.

Please have any relevant cards- including Medicare, pension, DVA, private health cards – available to show to reception on presentation.

International visitors will need to provide a copy of their passport and relevant private health insurance.

If you are given a script to take home you will need to pay at the pharmacy regardless of whether it is the hospital or outside pharmacy.

Ambulance patients are not automatically seen ahead of more unwell patients. Everyone arriving to the emergency department will be triaged and seen according to their clinical need.

At times the ambulance officers may escort you to the waiting room until you are seen. This allows them to be available  to treat other people in the community.

Unless you come from a residential care facility you are expected to make your own way home.

We encourage you to arrange for a family member or friend to be available to collect you

The emergency department cubicles are relatively small and during the early phase of assessment and treatment we may ask you to wait rather than come into the department.

We need to be able to perform our investigations and procedures and also provide the patient with privacy. A parent will be allowed to accompany a child at all times.

At other times the patient may be in a different department for tests or being seen by a specialist so unable to have visitors. We allow 1 visitor per person at any time.

Every person seen in the ED will be treated with respect and this includes their privacy. Unless you are the nominated next of kin we cannot provide updates over the phone. If you are the next of kin, you will be required to provide proof of identity prior to these discussions.

In the instance of a family member being very unwell we encourage the family to nominate one person to relay information to the rest of the family rather than having multiple phone calls.

The short stay unit is part of the emergency department and allows us to observe patients for a longer period and provide treatment for up to 24 hours.

It provides us with additional areas to monitor patients who may only need a few more hours of treatment rather than being admitted to the ward. 

If people are not well enough to go home at the end of 24 hours we arrange for transfer to the ward.