In what may be a world first, waiting times in the emergency departments at Adelaide's public hospitals are now available to the public over the internet.
The operational business intelligence dashboard, used by hospitals and ambulance services, can now be accessed through the SA Health website.
It gives information on the number of people being treated in each emergency department and how long they spend waiting.
Health Minister John Hill said giving the public access to such information was a first for hospitals in Australia and he was unaware of it happening anywhere else in the world.
Mr Hill said making the information public would increase transparency in the health system.
"I also want to help remove some of the mystique around how our health system is run and inform the public about how patient flow is managed in a busy hospital environment," he said.
"This online system has been used internally by hospital and ambulance managers for some time and allows them to see the situation in each emergency department at the metropolitan public hospitals.
"The data is updated every half-hour and shows the number of people arriving, departing and being treated in our hospital emergency departments.
"It also shows the total time people spend in the ED and waiting for admission at any given time.
"I don't know of any other health system in the world, and there are certainly none in Australia, that puts up the same performance data as used by its staff for the public to examine."
Mr Hill said the median waiting time in emergency departments in Adelaide was currently 24 minutes.
Front page
RSS Feed