Better off going to Byron? Ballina scores lowest ED result of the region’s smaller hospitals
Ballina District Hospital recorded the lowest four-hour emergency department result among Northern NSW’s smaller hospitals in the latest quarterly data, renewing pressure for long-requested upgrades to the ageing facility.
The Bureau of Health Information’s July–September 2025 report shows 74.6 per cent of Ballina patients who did not require admission or transfer were treated and discharged within four hours.
While this figure remains above many metropolitan averages, it places Ballina at the bottom of the region’s smaller hospitals.
Byron Central Hospital discharged 85.9 per cent of non-admitted ED patients within four hours — more than 10 percentage points above Ballina’s result.
Casino District Memorial Hospital achieved 85.2 per cent, Maclean District Hospital reached 88.8 per cent and Murwillumbah District Hospital recorded 90.5 per cent.
Only the region’s major referral hospitals, Lismore Base Hospital (73.5 per cent) and Grafton Base Hospital (74 per cent), returned similar or worse outcomes.
The new Tweed Valley Hospital is performing exceptionally well, discharging 78.6 percent of patients within four hours, well above most major hospitals of comparable size.
Because Ballina routinely transfers its more complex emergencies to Lismore, the combined performance of both hospitals means that patients needing urgent care in Ballina face the lowest overall four-hour result anywhere in Northern NSW.
The results land amid another heavy quarter for emergency demand, with 56,905 ED attendances and the highest number of ambulance arrivals on record across the District.
Northern NSW Local Health District Director of Clinical Operations, Lynne Weir, acknowledged the pressure.
“We’re continuing to see very high activity and our staff are doing an exceptional job of working collaboratively to ensure patients get the right care, in the right place, and in a timely fashion,” she said.
A long-running fight for a proper hospital
The new figures follow years of community frustration over Ballina’s hospital’s limited capability. Earlier this year, residents accused the state government of failing to deliver on repeated upgrade commitments, describing the facility as “no longer a hospital” and demanding a more modern facility to meet the Shire’s rapid growth.
Successive upgrade announcements dating back more than a decade have improved some services but not resolved core emergency capacity issues, leaving locals arguing that the region’s fastest-growing coastal community still lacks an adequately equipped hospital.
Ambulances ramping at the rear of Ballina District Hospital
Planned surgery remains a bright spot
Despite its ED challenges, Ballina’s surgery performance was one of the strongest in the region. The hospital completed 334 planned surgeries during the quarter — up 17.6 per cent year-on-year — with 99.3 per cent performed within recommended timeframes. All urgent surgeries were completed on time.
District-wide activity rises
Across Northern NSW, eight in ten ambulance arrivals were transferred to ED staff within 30 minutes, a result above the NSW benchmark. The District also completed 3,994 planned surgeries, an 11.8 per cent increase, and recorded 717 births — up nearly five per cent on the same quarter last year.
Health officials reminded residents that seriously unwell patients are always prioritised and encouraged callers with non-life-threatening concerns to seek initial advice through Healthdirect.
