The Victorian Health Services Performance Report reveals a jump in the overall number of patients in Bendigo, while the elective surgery waiting list grew from 830 last December to 935 in March.

Figures from the report also highlight an increase in the amount of emergency department admissions.

Category 1 emergency department patients rose to 105 in Bendigo this quarter – 14 more than the previous quarter and 40 more than the first quarter last year.

Bendigo Health also demonstrated its capacity to beat targets on urgent surgery. At least half of all Bendigo’s category 1 urgent elective surgery patients were treated within 11 days in the March quarter, well within the 30-day target; and all received their operations within the 30 days.

Bendigo Health chief executive officer John Mulder said the report’s findings reflected the hard work and dedication the organisation had for its patients.

“It is difficult to return such a strong performance without the support and commitment of all staff throughout the service and we are very thankful to them for their efforts,” he said.

“These results are even more pleasing given the space and capacity constraints we often face, yet we are treating an increasing number of patients.”

Mr Mulder said the state government’s commitment to build a new, larger hospital in Bendigo recognised those constraints.

“I am pleased to report that the PPP (public private partnership) process is progressing well and we remain on track to deliver the outstanding new hospital that our community deserves,” he said.

Minister for Health David Davis also lauded the report, saying it showed Victoria’s public hospitals were continuing to meet and beat surgery targets for the most urgent ill and injured patients.

“All of Victoria’s 10,861 category 1 patients in the three months to the end of March received their surgery within the benchmark 30 days,” Mr Davis said. “More importantly, our hospitals are giving our urgent patients the priority they deserve.”

The Opposition was less than enthusiastic about the new statistics, with Opposition Leader Daniel Andrews saying the data revealed Victoria’s health system was “getting worse, not better”.

“Clearly, the Baillieu government is failing to properly fund Victoria’s hospital system to match growth in demand for health services,” he said, adding the most alarming figure was the blow-out in waiting lists for elective surgery.

Member for Bendigo West Maree Edwards said the rising demand in Bendigo was evident.

“Bendigo and the region is growing and the investment is not keeping up with that growth,” she said. “Investment in our ambulance resources needs to improve for a start to help patient delivery times.”

Ms Edwards said the figures highlighted the need for the new Bendigo Hospital. “Obviously the new hospital needs to get started,” she said.

Mr Davis said the 4 per cent growth in the overall number of patients made it a “difficult quarter” for the health system.

“It’s certainly a challenging period, there’s significant ongoing growth in demand, pressure on our hospitals and increased demand and that provides a significant challenge for our hospitals.”