For all emergencies, please call 000.
Emergency Departments
Eastern Health provides emergency services at the following locations 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
On average, our Emergency Departments treat more than 450 people each day and even more people on weekends and holidays.
For after-hours care, the My Emergency Dr app provides free after-hours telehealth consultations for residents of eastern and northeastern Melbourne. (Available via the Apple App Store and Google Play)
When you arrive at the Emergency Department you will be assessed by a triage nurse to determine the urgency of your problem.
The triage nurse is highly-skilled and has specialised training to gauge the urgency of each patient and how quickly they need to be seen by a clinician which may include a doctor or a specialist emergency nurse.
There are five triage categories:
Category 1 – Resuscitation
Category 2 – Emergency
Category 3 – Urgent
Category 4 – Semi-urgent
Category 5 – Non-urgent
Don’t worry, the most seriously ill patients will be prioritised and see a clinician immediately.
If a patient’s condition is assessed to be less urgent by the triage nurse, they may be asked to wait until there is a clinician available to see them.
Each of our emergency departments includes purpose-built waiting and treatment areas for children.
As with adult patients, children are also triaged or assessed upon arrival to the department.
When your child is called by an emergency doctor or nurse you will be taken to a bed or consulting room in the Emergency Department.
How long you wait depends on the seriousness of your condition, the triage category you are placed in and how busy the Emergency Department is.
During normal activity, if your condition is less urgent you may have to wait. If the Emergency Department is extremely busy you may have to wait more than four hours. The number of people in the waiting room is not indicative of how busy the department is.
Make sure you speak with a staff member if your condition changes or if you leave the Emergency Department of your own accord.
