43 Emergency Presentations to Northern Territory Public Hospitals: Demand and Access Analysis Emergency Presentations to Northern Territory Public Hospitals: Demand and Access Analysis ANDY H LEE, L YNN B MEULENERS, YUEJEN ZHAO, METHINEE INTRAPANYA, DIDIER P ALMER AND ELIZABETH MOWATT Andy H Lee is associate professor, School of Public Health, Curtin University of Technology. Lynn B Meuleners is research fellow, Injury Research Centre, University of Western Australia. Yuejen Zhao is epidemiologist, Health Gains Planning, Northern Territory Department of Health and Community Services. Methinee Intrapanya is a registered nurse, Royal Darwin Hospital. Didier Palmer is director of Emergency Department, Royal Darwin Hospital. Elizabeth Mowatt is director of Emergency Department, Alice Springs Hospital. ABSTRACT This study aims to quantify trends in emergency presentations to Northern Territory (NT) public hospitals over the past five years with respect to demand and access. Retrospective analysis was undertaken on data extracted from the NT Module of Caresys and the Hospital Morbidity Data System. There has been a 4.6% decrease in presentations to the five public hospitals between 1996 and 2001 compared to a 9.4% growth in the population. Despite the apparent decline in total presentations, the acuity of patients has increased dramatically over the same period. Access analysis of presentations seen within the recommended triage time revealed considerable variability, especially for triage categories 2, 3 and 4. The access block problem, discrepancies in recorded waiting time and irregularities among the regional hospitals within the triage system have also been identified. Recommendations including improved access to inpatient beds and admission to wards were developed in response to the changing role of the emergency department. Acknowledgements This study was funded by a priority-driven research grant from the Australian Health Minister’s Advisory Council. The findings have been presented in the invited Emergency Services session at the Queensland Health and Medical Scientific Meeting, Brisbane, December 2002, organised by the States/Commonwealth Research Issues Forum. Background According to the Australasian College for Emergency Medicine (ACEM, 2003), emergency department (ED) should provide a high standard of emergency care to those in the community who perceive the need for or are in need of acute or urgent care including hospitalisation. Emergency services therefore exclude those services that may be “booked”, “planned” or “postponed” (West, 2000). However, the historical role of “trauma centre”