Surgery wait to be slashed

By ALENA HIGGINS

DARLING Downs residents who have been waiting for elective surgery will now receive it in the medically recommended time with a new Australian-first Wait Time Guarantee announced on Monday.
From 1 February 2015, all eligible Queensland patients will receive their elective (non-emergency) surgery within the medically recommended time or be offered the next available appointment in a public or private hospital at no cost.
Southern Downs MP and Minister for Health Lawrence Springborg said the new Queensland health guarantee, modelled on the world leading health systems of Scandinavia, would provide an assurance to tens of thousands of Queenslanders.
“With the new Wait Time Guarantee we can now ensure that every patient will have their surgery as planned by maximizing access to the state’s network of hospitals, doctors and nurses whether they are in the public, non-government or private sector,” Mr Springborg said.
Darling Downs Hospital and Health Service chief executive Dr Peter Bristow said there had been a strong focus on reducing the elective surgery waiting lists and the number of patients waiting longer than clinically recommended.
“Our board has had a very deliberate strategy to cut through the waiting lists and has funded extra staff to schedule more theatre operating time, including weekend surgery sessions,” Dr Bristow said.
“In March 2012 there were 319 patients waiting longer than clinically recommended. By September this year we had reduced that to just two patients.”
However, there is a catch.
Under the state-wide initiative, a patient may have to travel to have surgery if their local hospital of health service (HHS) cannot provide treatment within the clinically recommended time – 30 days for urgent cases, 90 days for semi-urgent cases and 365 for non-urgent surgery.
This poses questions about the potential impact on patients in larger centres, such as Toowoomba, who could be squeezed out to cater for the increased demand and be forced to travel to receive surgery themselves.
But a spokesman for Mr Springborg said monthly data has already shown significant improvements in the length of waiting lists across the state, which made the guarantee possible.
“What this demonstrates is a sustained advantage in hospital performance and capacity over demand,” the spokesman said.
“Given this sustained and documented advantage in a general sense… we foresee no difficulty, once we reach zero long waits, in holding that position.
“Under Labor, there could be no such confidence, because in those days hospitals were not keeping pace with demand, no matter how much money was invested.”
He said a total of $170 million has been set aside to deal with more complicated cases, but that funding comes from improvements already in place.
If a patient has not received surgery within the medically recommended time and needs to travel more than 50 km from their original hospital, the full cost of travel and accommodation will be paid via the government’s Patient Travel Subsidy Scheme.
Patients currently on the elective surgery wait list will receive a letter in early December explaining how the guarantee works.
Elective surgery not covered by Medicare is exempt from the guarantee.