Length of stay

About the data

The above measures look at:

• non-admitted patients staying 4 hours or less
• percentage of patients staying 4 hours or less
• patients staying longer than 24 hours.

About non-admitted patients staying 4 hours or less

The number and percentage of patients treated in an emergency department who were not transferred to a hospital inpatient bed and whose length of stay was equal to or less than 4 hours.

About percentage of patients staying 4 hours or less

The 'four hour rule' means patients will be admitted to hospital, transferred to another hospital for treatment or discharged within four hours. The 2023–24 and 2024-25 statewide targets for the percentage of patients to leave an emergency department within four hours have not been finalised.

This is similar to the National Emergency Access Target.

About patients staying longer than 24 hours

The number and percentage of patients who have stayed in an emergency department for more than 24 hours. 

The 2023–24 and 2024-25 statewide targets for the number of patients who stayed in an emergency department for more than 24 hours have not been finalised.

Notes

• Data source: Victorian Emergency Minimum Dataset (VEMD). Data extracted on 16 October 2024
• Victorian Virtual Emergency Department (VVED) presentations have been excluded from the calculation of all emergency indicators
• Results for the current financial year are preliminary and may change from quarter to quarter, final results will be available in November. Results from the previous financial year have been finalised
• Care needs to be taken when assessing results and comparing them to prior periods
• * No results are available.