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Emergency care activity

Queensland provides free public hospital emergency care to people who are seriously ill or injured and need urgent treatment. This page provides information about how busy Queensland hospital Emergency departments (ED) are, and other activity measures.

Emergency departments in Queensland

  • For further information about Queensland Emergency departments and how to access emergency services, visit the ED Facts website.
  • If you are experiencing an emergency call Triple Zero (000).

Arrivals at the Emergency department

Hospital EDs measure the number of people who arrive via private transport, ambulance, emergency rescue services or other means. An arrival at ED commences at the point in which a patient presents to an ED and is registered and triaged to assess how urgent their condition is.

At a glance

Arrivals by urgency category

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 (ATS). 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. Patients are seen in order of medical priority and not in order of arrival at the ED.

Arrivals at the Emergency department by ambulance

Queensland Health report the number of patients that arrive to Emergency Departments (ED) for care via an ambulance. This includes those who arrive through the Queensland Ambulance Service (QAS) and other ambulance services.

QAS performance

To view detailed activity and performance information about QAS, visit the QAS performance page.

View more emergency care data

  • Performance

    Click to see the operational performance of Queensland hospital Emergency departments (ED), including indicators highlighting the timeliness of treatment from arrival through to admission or departure.

  • Outcomes

    Click to see information on the outcome of the emergency care service provided at hospital Emergency departments (ED), including the number of patients who were admitted to hospital following their ED visit.