New health figures reveal a sharp rise in seriously ill patients across the Northern Rivers, with Ballina Hospital handling more emergencies.

Despite treating more emergency patients than a year ago, Ballina District Hospital had some of the strongest ambulance handover times in the Northern Rivers in the first three months of 2026.

New figures released by the NSW Health show Ballina’s emergency department treated 4,771 patients between January and March, an increase of 4.5 per cent or 207 patients compared with the same period last year.

The hospital also recorded a strong result for ambulance transfers, with 86.4 per cent of patients arriving by ambulance handed over to emergency department staff within the state’s 30-minute benchmark.

That was better than larger regional hospitals including Lismore Base Hospital (78.4 per cent) and Tweed Valley Hospital (80.2 per cent), although Murwillumbah District Hospital recorded the district’s best result at 98.4 per cent.

More than 80 per cent of Ballina patients left the emergency department within four hours of arriving.

Lismore sees biggest growth

While Ballina’s growth was steady, Lismore Base Hospital experienced one of the largest increases in demand across the region.

The hospital recorded 10,663 emergency department presentations during the quarter, up 7.6 per cent or 755 patients compared with the same period last year.

Lismore also received 3,254 patients by ambulance, an increase of 12.8 per cent or 368 arrivals.

Despite the surge, Lismore significantly improved ambulance handover performance, with 78.4 per cent of patients transferred from paramedics to hospital staff within 30 minutes. That represented a 10.3 percentage point improvement on the same quarter in 2025.

Across the Northern NSW Local Health District, hospitals treated 58,014 emergency department patients during the quarter, an increase of 2.4 per cent.

The figures also revealed hospitals are treating more serious and complex cases.

The number of patients requiring immediate resuscitation increased by 28.5 per cent across the district, while presentations requiring emergency treatment within 10 minutes rose by 12.8 per cent.

Northern NSW Local Health District Director of Clinical Operations Lynne Weir said staff continued to face growing demand and increasing patient complexity.

“Activity across our hospitals in Northern NSW continues to rise and our staff are working hard to care for patients in a caring, timely and efficient manner,” she said.

Byron and Casino not listed

One change in this quarter’s report is that several smaller hospitals, including Byron Central Hospital, are no longer reported individually.

The Bureau of Health Information has reclassified Byron Central Hospital, Casino and Maclean into a different reporting category, meaning their individual emergency department performance is no longer published in the quarterly report.

Their activity continues to be included in Northern NSW Local Health District figures.

Ballina also recorded positive surgery results, completing 263 planned procedures during the quarter, up 5.2 per cent on a year earlier. All urgent and semi-urgent surgeries were performed on time.

Lismore Base Hospital completed 1,146 planned surgeries, with all urgent procedures completed within recommended timeframes.