A WA parliamentary question on notice regarding elective surgery waiting times, number of surgeries performed, longest wait times, and costs associated with using private hospitals for public patients as of November 23, 2010.

AnsweredQoN 4605Legislative Assembly
Asked
25 November 2010
Portfolio
Health

QuestionView source ↗

(1) As at 23 November 2010, how many patients awaited surgery longer than the clinically recommended time for their category of surgery?
(2) As at 23 November 2010, please list a breakdown for each surgical category and the number of patients operated on?
(3) As at 23 November 2010, what was the longest time period a patient had waited for surgery?
(4) As at 23 November 2010, how many patients has the Department of Health paid to have surgery undertaken in a private hospital; and
(a) please provide a breakdown of each procedure that was referred to a private hospital?
(5) As at 23 November 2010, what was the average additional cost per operation to the Department of Health of having a public patient have surgery in a private hospital?

AnswerView source ↗

Answered
15 February 2011
Responded by
Minister for Health
Response time
82 days
(1)  From the 1 to 23 November inclusive, there were 554 patients admitted from the elective surgery waiting list, after waiting longer than the clinically recommended time for their category of surgery.
(2)  The 554 patients referred to in (a) were admitted under the following surgical specialities:
Orthopaedic Surgery: 135
General Surgery: 104
Urology: 81
Ear, Nose & Throat: 63
Ophthalmology: 51
Plastic Surgery: 38
Cardiothoracic Surgery: 12
Cardiology: 8
Gastroenterology: 8
Neurosurgery: 8
Paediatric Surgery: 8
Vascular Surgery: 8
Renal Medicine: 7
Medical Oncology: 6
Other: 17
(3)  Of these long wait patients, 10 waited 710 days or more before they were admitted for their surgery.  In the interest of patient confidentiality the longest time an individual waited for elective surgery is suppressed, the supplied range prevents the identification of an individual patient.
(4)  As at 23 November 2010, the Department of Health had paid for 21 patients to have surgery undertaken in a private hospital.
(a) Fundoplication, excision of skin lesion, reconstruction of breast, removal of plate/rods/screws, total arthroplasty of knee/hip, shoulder repair, carpal tunnel and lateral column procedure right elbow. For confidentiality reasons generic details of the procedures have been used.
(5)  As at 23 November 2010, for 16 of the 21 public patients there was no additional average cost.  For 5 of the 21 public patients, additional costs were incurred due to their clinical needs.  The average additional cost for each of these 5 patients was $2,729.
Notice: This document is created or edited using unregistered or evaluation copy of rtLib valid for testing or development purposes only. To use it for productive or any other purposes please register it. You may purchase the license on
http://www.rtlib.com

Explore WA Government Data

Search the full archive in the free dashboard, or query programmatically via API.

Explore more