© Brooke Whatnall / The Advertiser
SA Health figures show more than 14,000 people walked out of metropolitan emergency departments without being treated by a doctor last financial year, including one person whose condition was assessed by a triage nurse as critical.
Patients deemed critical may be suffering a heart attack, have stopped breathing or be a violent threat to others. In the same year another 81 patients with life-threatening conditions, which could include swallowing poison, needing amputations, losing blood or having chest pains, walked out of EDs.
Examples of walk-outs include:
A 57-year-old man suffering chest pain after drinking methylated spirits, and;
Two 19-year-old men suffering trauma after assaults.
SA Health documents also show patients have fled emergency departments to go to the pub. Nationally, the ACT has the highest number of walk-outs at almost 10 per cent of all emergency patients, while WA has the lowest at 1.5 per cent. SA recorded the second-lowest rate of 4.3 per cent.
Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation state secretary Elizabeth Dabars said health workers could not force a patient to stay but it was "very unwise to leave against the advice of the health professional".
Hospital guidelines require the most serious patients, deemed category one and whose lives are at risk, must be seen immediately.
Last financial year, 100 per cent of those patients were seen on time, according to latest Australian Institute of Health and Welfare data.
Category two patients, who face an "imminent" threat to their life such as swallowing poison, chest pains or acid on the skin, should be seen within 10 minutes.
Three-quarters of all patients were seen on time last financial year and the average emergency wait time was 16 minutes, down 10 minutes from 2006-07.
Overall the number of people who leave Adelaide emergency departments without treatment has fallen from 17,087 in 2009-10 to 14,077 in 2011-12.
Royal Adelaide Hospital emergency department assistant director Dr Michael Davey said patients presenting to hospital emergency departments were assessed on the urgency and severity of their condition and "are seen accordingly".
"Hospital emergency departments are there to deal with emergencies and those people requiring urgent, life-saving treatment are seen as a priority," he said.
"This can occasionally lead to longer waits for those patients whose treatment is not as urgent, and while this may be frustrating, patients should wait to receive the treatment they need."
Health Minister John Hill said the State Government had employed almost 7000 more nurses, doctors and allied health workers since 2002 and had reformed pathology and other hospital procedures to be more efficient.
...person who needs medical help that is not given that help - is a problem. I am so sick and tired of politicians spruiking studies and statistics. The statistics indicate the state has employed almost 7000 more nurses, doctors and allied health workers since 2002...
More ...than what?
If more employees are available - then where are they - on stress leave because they are overworked and underpaid perhaps.
Much Peace...to anyone needing medical assistance in a hurry...