COVID-19 and influenza continue to put pressure on health services in the region with nearly 48,000 people presenting themselves in hospitals since January this year.
High demand for services, while there is a staff shortage, has "placed immense pressure on our facilities and healthcare workers", Western NSW Local Health District chief executive Mark Spittal said.
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Basing his assessment of the latest Bureau of Health Information report, Mr Spittal said the district has "experienced sustained high demand and significant staff unavailability" as COVID variant Omicron had spread along with influenza.
The report captures that unprecedented period during which the impact of COVID-19 was significant.
- Western NSW Local Health District chief executive Mark Spittal
In the first quarter of the year, there were 9426 attendances to the Cowra Health Service emergency department.
More than nine in 10 patients (91.6 per cent) started treatment on time, which was significantly higher than the average for hospitals of a similar size in NSW (80.2 per cent).
In all five triage categories, the number of patients starting treatment at the Cowra Health Service on time was higher than the average for comparable hospitals in the state.
All urgent elective surgery (100 per cent) was performed on time.
Across the district, attendances in hospitals' emergency departments reached 47,524 people with 2,341 of them requiring elective surgeries for other forms of illnesses.
Mr Spittal said the increasing number of COVID cases in the district was a "huge challenge" to hospitals facing staff shortages as health workers go on leave from work after contracting the virus at work and outside of work.
"The report captures that unprecedented period during which the impact of COVID-19 was significant on hospitals, health facilities, and healthcare workers alike. We experienced sustained high demand and significant staff unavailability during the opening quarter of 2022."
Despite staff shortages, Mr Spittal said the district's health services "performed better" than others in NSW in other areas of services. The region's elective surgeries budget has received $458.5 million and another $80 million from the 2020-2021 budget to reduce the backlog since the pandemic has affected surgeries.
Across the district's services, the report said 84 per cent of patients were attended to on time compared to 70.5 per cent on average at triage.
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