National Healthcare Agreement PIa: Proportion of emergency radiotherapy treatment started within the emergency timeframe

Collection and usage attributes

The clinical emergency indicator describes whether the radiotherapy treatment required for a patient is clinically assessed as an emergency. An emergency is defined as treatment required within 24 hours of being determined to be ready-for-care (in the opinion of the treating clinician).

As reporting of waiting time in hours is not supported by the underlying data collection, and a patient receiving treatment on the following day may also have started treatment within 24 hours, the performance indicator reported is, therefore:

The percentage of radiotherapy patients who are ready-for-care and whose treatment was clinically assessed as an emergency, as recorded by the clinical emergency indicator, whose radiotherapy treatment began:

• on the same day as they were ready-for-care, or
• the day after they were ready-for-care.

The percentage of radiotherapy patients who began care on the same day or the day after they were ready-for-care will be reported as being treated within the emergency timeframe.  

The waiting time is calculated, in days, by subtracting the ready-for-care date from the radiotherapy start date.

Analysis by State and Territory is for State or Territory of treatment facility.

Analysis by remoteness and Socio-Economic Indexes for Areas (SEIFA) Index of Relative Socioeconomic Disadvantage (IRSD) is based on usual residence of person.

Presented as a percentage.

100 × (Numerator ÷ Denominator).

Number of radiotherapy patients who are clinically assessed as an emergency, whose calculated waiting time is 0 days or 1 day.

Number of radiotherapy patients who are clinically assessed as an emergency.

State and Territory, for patients whose clinical emergency indicator was recorded as ‘yes’, by:

• Establishment sector
• Indigenous status
• Remoteness (Australian Statistical Geography Standard (ASGS) Remoteness structure)
• 2011 Socio-Economic Indexes for Areas (SEIFA) Index of Relative Sociodemographic Disadvantage (IRSD) quintiles.

Nationally by sector, by:

• 2011 SEIFA IRSD deciles.

Some disaggregations may result in numbers too small for publication.

Most recent data available for National Healthcare Agreement (NHA) performance reporting: TBA.

Those who are deemed ready-for-care but do not receive treatment in the reporting period (including those who never go on to receive treatment) are not reported in the National Radiotherapy Waiting Times Database, and are, therefore not included in this indicator. A person may experience more than 1 wait time in the reporting period, in which case, each of their waits would be included. The clinical emergency indicator describes whether the treatment required for the patient is clinically assessed as an emergency.

Representational attributes

Data source attributes

Accountability attributes

National Healthcare Agreement

Australian Institute of Health and Welfare

Specification: Some work required to refine time measure to hours, currently days.

Source and reference attributes

Australian Institute of Health and Welfare