Admissions to NSW hospitals are up but emergency waiting times are improving, new data shows.

NSW hospital waiting times have dropped despite more patients, new data shows.

Some 636,000 people were admitted to emergency departments between October and December, up three per cent on the same period a year earlier, the Bureau of Health Information says.

Yet the total time patients spent in emergency departments was the shortest recorded in any equivalent period for the past five years.

Across NSW, 73 per cent of patients left emergency departments within the benchmark of four hours, up from 71 per cent a year earlier.

Health Minister Jillian Skinner was pleased with the results, but said there is room for improvement at western Sydney hospitals such as Westmead and Blacktown.