Catching up on surgery waitlists

Member for Gosford Liesl Tesch has welcomed the release of new preliminary data which shows the overdue planned surgery waitlist at NSW public hospitals has reached its lowest level since before the COVID-19 pandemic.

Since the NSW Government established the Surgical Care Governance Taskforce in March 2023, the state’s public hospitals have reduced the number of patients waiting longer than clinically recommended for a planned surgery by 86 per cent, approximately from 14,000 to 1,900.

Tesch said Gosford Hospital had seen a 30.8 per cent increase in the number of elective surgeries performed on time compared with the same quarter last year.

Further, there had been an 85 per cent improvement in patients waiting longer than recommended for elective surgery at the end of the quarter, she said.

“Gosford Hospital is leading the way, with a 30.8 per cent improvement of elective surgeries performed on time, compared with the state average of 11.2 per cent,” she said.

“These improvements are testament to the highly-skilled healthcare staff at Gosford Hospital, who are working day and night to provide world-class care to our community, combined with the strategic direction of the Taskforce.”

The NSW Government Surgical Care Governance Taskforce has been tasked with making sustainable long-term changes to the way NSW Health delivers planned surgery,

The most recent Bureau of Health Information Healthcare Quarterly report showed 86.2 per cent of all planned surgeries were performed on time in NSW public hospitals during the January to March quarter this year, an improvement of 11.2 percentage points compared with the same quarter in 2023.

Overall, NSW public hospitals performed 51,149 planned surgeries in the first quarter of this year, with almost all urgent planned surgeries (98.7 per cent) performed on time.

These planned surgeries were in addition to 26,000 emergency surgical procedures which were performed during the same period.

The taskforce forms one part of the NSW Government’s plan to build a better health system and alleviate pressure on the state’s busy hospitals, including: a $480.7M Emergency Department relief package providing alternatives to EDs and improving patient flow; rolling out safe staffing levels at hospitals across NSW; boosting staff and treatment spaces; reducing overdue surgeries by safely increasing short stay procedures; and empowering pharmacies to prescribe low complex medications, relieving pressure on GPs.

The Government has also committed $124M over two years to deliver 25 urgent care services in NSW by mid-2025, including one centre at Long Jetty.

NSW Health has established the Surgical Care Strategic Committee to continue the important and positive work of the Taskforce on an ongoing basis.