❓ The Minister for Health provides an update on elective surgery waiting times, highlighting a significant reduction in both the number of people waiting and the median waiting time compared to when the Liberal Party was last in power. The answer also identifies pressure areas and future strategies.
AnsweredQoN 203Legislative Assembly
QuestionView source ↗
ELECTIVE SURGERY - PUBLIC PATIENT WAITING TIMES
Will the minister give an update on elective surgery waiting times for public patients in our hospitals? Mr J.A. McGINTY
Will the minister give an update on elective surgery waiting times for public patients in our hospitals? Mr J.A. McGINTY
AnswerView source ↗
I thank the member for Kingsley. Believe it or not, I have some very good news that I am sure everyone in this house will be very happy to hear. Just to give us a starting point, when the Liberal Party was last in power in this state the elective surgery wait lists were above 20 000 and people were waiting about five months on average - that was the median waiting time - for surgery. I am delighted to be able to inform the house that the most recent figures, as at 30 April this year, show that we have hit a new historic low: 13 936 people are waiting for elective surgery in this state. That is 3 069 people fewer than at the same time last year and 439 fewer than at the end of March this year; in other words, during the course of the last month. The figure when the Liberal Party was in power in July 1999 was 21 541 waiting for elective surgery. The first figures published after we came to power were for June 2001. The figure was 19 183. By comparison, today’s figure of 13 936 represents a very dramatic reduction in the number of people waiting for surgery. There is more to it than that. What is critical when looking at elective surgery is not so much the number of people on the waiting list but the amount of time they have to wait. The waiting time for elective surgery in both 1999 and 2001 was 4.9 months - the median waiting time was nearly five months. That has now fallen to 3.4 months. In other words, both the number of people on the list and the time people spend waiting for surgery have been slashed by about one-third. To be precise, the reduction is 35 per cent in the number of people on the list, and 30 per cent in the time they spend on the list. At a time of pressure on our public hospital system, it is pleasing to see the focus on elective surgery is paying such handsome dividends. The pressure areas that remain are ear, nose and throat surgery, particularly in paediatrics, opthalmology and orthopaedics, generally driven by a workforce shortage. We are committed to ensuring that every patient receives surgery within clinically desirable times by creating surgicentres north and south of the river, and 30 per cent of beds that will be freed up by moving care awaiting placement patients and subacute patients out of our acute beds will be dedicated to elective surgery. Most importantly, we are concluding our negotiations with surgeons and anaesthetists at the moment, which will see these figures drive even lower. The SPEAKER : I direct that a copy of that answer go to the member for Central Kimberley-Pilbara!
Mr J.A. McGINTY replied: I thank the member for Kingsley. Believe it or not, I have some very good news that I am sure everyone in this house will be very happy to hear. Just to give us a starting point, when the Liberal Party was last in power in this state the elective surgery wait lists were above 20 000 and people were waiting about five months on average - that was the median waiting time - for surgery. I am delighted to be able to inform the house that the most recent figures, as at 30 April this year, show that we have hit a new historic low: 13 936 people are waiting for elective surgery in this state. That is 3 069 people fewer than at the same time last year and 439 fewer than at the end of March this year; in other words, during the course of the last month. The figure when the Liberal Party was in power in July 1999 was 21 541 waiting for elective surgery. The first figures published after we came to power were for June 2001. The figure was 19 183. By comparison, today’s figure of 13 936 represents a very dramatic reduction in the number of people waiting for surgery. There is more to it than that. What is critical when looking at elective surgery is not so much the number of people on the waiting list but the amount of time they have to wait. The waiting time for elective surgery in both 1999 and 2001 was 4.9 months - the median waiting time was nearly five months. That has now fallen to 3.4 months. In other words, both the number of people on the list and the time people spend waiting for surgery have been slashed by about one-third. To be precise, the reduction is 35 per cent in the number of people on the list, and 30 per cent in the time they spend on the list. At a time of pressure on our public hospital system, it is pleasing to see the focus on elective surgery is paying such handsome dividends. The pressure areas that remain are ear, nose and throat surgery, particularly in paediatrics, opthalmology and orthopaedics, generally driven by a workforce shortage. We are committed to ensuring that every patient receives surgery within clinically desirable times by creating surgicentres north and south of the river, and 30 per cent of beds that will be freed up by moving care awaiting placement patients and subacute patients out of our acute beds will be dedicated to elective surgery. Most importantly, we are concluding our negotiations with surgeons and anaesthetists at the moment, which will see these figures drive even lower. The SPEAKER : I direct that a copy of that answer go to the member for Central Kimberley-Pilbara!
I thank the member for Kingsley. Believe it or not, I have some very good news that I am sure everyone in this house will be very happy to hear. Just to give us a starting point, when the Liberal Party was last in power in this state the elective surgery wait lists were above 20 000 and people were waiting about five months on average - that was the median waiting time - for surgery. I am delighted to be able to inform the house that the most recent figures, as at 30 April this year, show that we have hit a new historic low: 13 936 people are waiting for elective surgery in this state. That is 3 069 people fewer than at the same time last year and 439 fewer than at the end of March this year; in other words, during the course of the last month. The figure when the Liberal Party was in power in July 1999 was 21 541 waiting for elective surgery. The first figures published after we came to power were for June 2001. The figure was 19 183. By comparison, today’s figure of 13 936 represents a very dramatic reduction in the number of people waiting for surgery. There is more to it than that. What is critical when looking at elective surgery is not so much the number of people on the waiting list but the amount of time they have to wait. The waiting time for elective surgery in both 1999 and 2001 was 4.9 months - the median waiting time was nearly five months. That has now fallen to 3.4 months. In other words, both the number of people on the list and the time people spend waiting for surgery have been slashed by about one-third. To be precise, the reduction is 35 per cent in the number of people on the list, and 30 per cent in the time they spend on the list. At a time of pressure on our public hospital system, it is pleasing to see the focus on elective surgery is paying such handsome dividends. The pressure areas that remain are ear, nose and throat surgery, particularly in paediatrics, opthalmology and orthopaedics, generally driven by a workforce shortage. We are committed to ensuring that every patient receives surgery within clinically desirable times by creating surgicentres north and south of the river, and 30 per cent of beds that will be freed up by moving care awaiting placement patients and subacute patients out of our acute beds will be dedicated to elective surgery. Most importantly, we are concluding our negotiations with surgeons and anaesthetists at the moment, which will see these figures drive even lower. The SPEAKER : I direct that a copy of that answer go to the member for Central Kimberley-Pilbara!
There is more to it than that. What is critical when looking at elective surgery is not so much the number of people on the waiting list but the amount of time they have to wait. The waiting time for elective surgery in both 1999 and 2001 was 4.9 months - the median waiting time was nearly five months. That has now fallen to 3.4 months. In other words, both the number of people on the list and the time people spend waiting for surgery have been slashed by about one-third. To be precise, the reduction is 35 per cent in the number of people on the list, and 30 per cent in the time they spend on the list. At a time of pressure on our public hospital system, it is pleasing to see the focus on elective surgery is paying such handsome dividends. The pressure areas that remain are ear, nose and throat surgery, particularly in paediatrics, opthalmology and orthopaedics, generally driven by a workforce shortage. We are committed to ensuring that every patient receives surgery within clinically desirable times by creating surgicentres north and south of the river, and 30 per cent of beds that will be freed up by moving care awaiting placement patients and subacute patients out of our acute beds will be dedicated to elective surgery. Most importantly, we are concluding our negotiations with surgeons and anaesthetists at the moment, which will see these figures drive even lower. The SPEAKER : I direct that a copy of that answer go to the member for Central Kimberley-Pilbara!
The pressure areas that remain are ear, nose and throat surgery, particularly in paediatrics, opthalmology and orthopaedics, generally driven by a workforce shortage. We are committed to ensuring that every patient receives surgery within clinically desirable times by creating surgicentres north and south of the river, and 30 per cent of beds that will be freed up by moving care awaiting placement patients and subacute patients out of our acute beds will be dedicated to elective surgery. Most importantly, we are concluding our negotiations with surgeons and anaesthetists at the moment, which will see these figures drive even lower. The SPEAKER : I direct that a copy of that answer go to the member for Central Kimberley-Pilbara!
The SPEAKER : I direct that a copy of that answer go to the member for Central Kimberley-Pilbara!
Mr J.A. McGINTY replied: I thank the member for Kingsley. Believe it or not, I have some very good news that I am sure everyone in this house will be very happy to hear. Just to give us a starting point, when the Liberal Party was last in power in this state the elective surgery wait lists were above 20 000 and people were waiting about five months on average - that was the median waiting time - for surgery. I am delighted to be able to inform the house that the most recent figures, as at 30 April this year, show that we have hit a new historic low: 13 936 people are waiting for elective surgery in this state. That is 3 069 people fewer than at the same time last year and 439 fewer than at the end of March this year; in other words, during the course of the last month. The figure when the Liberal Party was in power in July 1999 was 21 541 waiting for elective surgery. The first figures published after we came to power were for June 2001. The figure was 19 183. By comparison, today’s figure of 13 936 represents a very dramatic reduction in the number of people waiting for surgery. There is more to it than that. What is critical when looking at elective surgery is not so much the number of people on the waiting list but the amount of time they have to wait. The waiting time for elective surgery in both 1999 and 2001 was 4.9 months - the median waiting time was nearly five months. That has now fallen to 3.4 months. In other words, both the number of people on the list and the time people spend waiting for surgery have been slashed by about one-third. To be precise, the reduction is 35 per cent in the number of people on the list, and 30 per cent in the time they spend on the list. At a time of pressure on our public hospital system, it is pleasing to see the focus on elective surgery is paying such handsome dividends. The pressure areas that remain are ear, nose and throat surgery, particularly in paediatrics, opthalmology and orthopaedics, generally driven by a workforce shortage. We are committed to ensuring that every patient receives surgery within clinically desirable times by creating surgicentres north and south of the river, and 30 per cent of beds that will be freed up by moving care awaiting placement patients and subacute patients out of our acute beds will be dedicated to elective surgery. Most importantly, we are concluding our negotiations with surgeons and anaesthetists at the moment, which will see these figures drive even lower. The SPEAKER : I direct that a copy of that answer go to the member for Central Kimberley-Pilbara!
I thank the member for Kingsley. Believe it or not, I have some very good news that I am sure everyone in this house will be very happy to hear. Just to give us a starting point, when the Liberal Party was last in power in this state the elective surgery wait lists were above 20 000 and people were waiting about five months on average - that was the median waiting time - for surgery. I am delighted to be able to inform the house that the most recent figures, as at 30 April this year, show that we have hit a new historic low: 13 936 people are waiting for elective surgery in this state. That is 3 069 people fewer than at the same time last year and 439 fewer than at the end of March this year; in other words, during the course of the last month. The figure when the Liberal Party was in power in July 1999 was 21 541 waiting for elective surgery. The first figures published after we came to power were for June 2001. The figure was 19 183. By comparison, today’s figure of 13 936 represents a very dramatic reduction in the number of people waiting for surgery. There is more to it than that. What is critical when looking at elective surgery is not so much the number of people on the waiting list but the amount of time they have to wait. The waiting time for elective surgery in both 1999 and 2001 was 4.9 months - the median waiting time was nearly five months. That has now fallen to 3.4 months. In other words, both the number of people on the list and the time people spend waiting for surgery have been slashed by about one-third. To be precise, the reduction is 35 per cent in the number of people on the list, and 30 per cent in the time they spend on the list. At a time of pressure on our public hospital system, it is pleasing to see the focus on elective surgery is paying such handsome dividends. The pressure areas that remain are ear, nose and throat surgery, particularly in paediatrics, opthalmology and orthopaedics, generally driven by a workforce shortage. We are committed to ensuring that every patient receives surgery within clinically desirable times by creating surgicentres north and south of the river, and 30 per cent of beds that will be freed up by moving care awaiting placement patients and subacute patients out of our acute beds will be dedicated to elective surgery. Most importantly, we are concluding our negotiations with surgeons and anaesthetists at the moment, which will see these figures drive even lower. The SPEAKER : I direct that a copy of that answer go to the member for Central Kimberley-Pilbara!
There is more to it than that. What is critical when looking at elective surgery is not so much the number of people on the waiting list but the amount of time they have to wait. The waiting time for elective surgery in both 1999 and 2001 was 4.9 months - the median waiting time was nearly five months. That has now fallen to 3.4 months. In other words, both the number of people on the list and the time people spend waiting for surgery have been slashed by about one-third. To be precise, the reduction is 35 per cent in the number of people on the list, and 30 per cent in the time they spend on the list. At a time of pressure on our public hospital system, it is pleasing to see the focus on elective surgery is paying such handsome dividends. The pressure areas that remain are ear, nose and throat surgery, particularly in paediatrics, opthalmology and orthopaedics, generally driven by a workforce shortage. We are committed to ensuring that every patient receives surgery within clinically desirable times by creating surgicentres north and south of the river, and 30 per cent of beds that will be freed up by moving care awaiting placement patients and subacute patients out of our acute beds will be dedicated to elective surgery. Most importantly, we are concluding our negotiations with surgeons and anaesthetists at the moment, which will see these figures drive even lower. The SPEAKER : I direct that a copy of that answer go to the member for Central Kimberley-Pilbara!
The pressure areas that remain are ear, nose and throat surgery, particularly in paediatrics, opthalmology and orthopaedics, generally driven by a workforce shortage. We are committed to ensuring that every patient receives surgery within clinically desirable times by creating surgicentres north and south of the river, and 30 per cent of beds that will be freed up by moving care awaiting placement patients and subacute patients out of our acute beds will be dedicated to elective surgery. Most importantly, we are concluding our negotiations with surgeons and anaesthetists at the moment, which will see these figures drive even lower. The SPEAKER : I direct that a copy of that answer go to the member for Central Kimberley-Pilbara!
The SPEAKER : I direct that a copy of that answer go to the member for Central Kimberley-Pilbara!
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