Central Coast residents waiting to have elective surgery will be heartened but news the NSW Government will invest a further $408M to fast-track surgeries delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic response.
NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet said the funding boost, announced in this week’s State Budget, will take the Government’s total commitment to reducing wait times to almost $1B.
“This additional $408M will make a real difference to patients by bringing their surgeries forward,” he said.
“We will increase elective surgery activity in our public hospitals and continue our collaborative care arrangements with private hospitals, meaning public patients will get faster access to the care they need.”
Health Minister Brad Hazzard said the NSW Government’s investment will boost staff by 267 Full-Time Equivalent (FTE) and open additional theatre lists at some hospitals on evenings and weekends.
“This additional funding will enable the fast-tracking of procedures that were delayed to ensure our health system had the capacity to deal with the worst of the COVID-19 pandemic,” Hazzard said.
Minister for Regional Health and Mental Health, Bronnie Taylor, thanked the hardworking staff right across the state who continued to provide all emergency surgery and urgent elective surgery throughout the pandemic.
“This is a credit to our outstanding healthcare workers who worked tirelessly in the most difficult of circumstances to continue to provide high-quality care,” Taylor said.
“Despite the many challenges that COVID-19 continues to present, and now the flu, thanks to our incredible healthcare professionals we expect elective surgery to be operating at up to 125 per cent of pre-pandemic capacity at some sites as we seek to address the pandemic delays.”
NSW Treasurer Matt Kean said additional staff will include doctors, nurses and allied health professionals and extra shifts will also be offered to existing staff to allow extra surgery lists to be completed.
Source:
Media release, Jun 21
NSW Government