Emergency department activity

Data highlights

Emergency department presentations

All arrivals (presentations) at an ED that are recorded by a staff member are counted by the ED. When an individual arrives at an ED for treatment, a qualified triage nurse assesses how urgent their condition is and assigns a category according to the Australasian Triage Scale. There are 5 triage categories (1 to 5), where 1 is most urgent and 5 is least urgent. The triage system ensures people most in need of care are treated first.

Emergency department arrivals by ambulance

Ambulance services and EDs work together to meet the emergency health care needs of the Canberra community. Generally, patients arriving by ambulance at the ED have more urgent care needs.

Admissions to hospital from emergency departments

A patient at an ED may be formally admitted to hospital following a clinical decision that they need further care. Patients being admitted to hospital from the ED will be relocated to an appropriate treatment environment such as a short stay unit, inpatient ward, or operating theatre, often within the same hospital facility.

Patients treated and discharged home

Following a clinical decision a patient may be discharged home, sometimes with a plan to return to the hospital for further care in an outpatient setting or another health care service.

Potentially avoidable primary care-type presentations to emergency departments

Presentations at an ACT public hospital emergency department (ED) for issues that may have been preventable through the provision of appropriate non-hospital services in the community. A specific subset of this group includes potentially avoidable primary care-type ED presentations with dental conditions.

How to download data

Download the emergency department activity data displayed in this dashboard using the following link.