❓ WA Health Minister outlines the staged reinstatement of elective surgeries following successful COVID-19 suppression, prioritising urgent cases and addressing PPE supply.
AnsweredQoN 310Legislative Assembly
QuestionView source ↗
CORONAVIRUS —
ELECTIVE SURGERY — REINSTATEMENT
310. Mr C.J. TALLENTIRE to the Minister for Health:
I refer to Western Australia's
response to COVID-19 and its great success in containing the spread of the
virus. Can the minister outline to the house how this success has allowed the
government to start increasing the number of elective surgeries across the
state and can the minister advise the house what will need to happen to
reinstate all elective surgeries in WA's public and private hospitals?
ELECTIVE SURGERY — REINSTATEMENT
310. Mr C.J. TALLENTIRE to the Minister for Health:
I refer to Western Australia's
response to COVID-19 and its great success in containing the spread of the
virus. Can the minister outline to the house how this success has allowed the
government to start increasing the number of elective surgeries across the
state and can the minister advise the house what will need to happen to
reinstate all elective surgeries in WA's public and private hospitals?
AnswerView source ↗
I
thank the member for the question. It is an important one for the future of
health care in Western Australia because although we know that making
sure we keep the number of cases of COVID-19 down, we also need to be aware of
the disease burden and the burden of chronic disease and injury in other
aspects of our health care. On 23 March, we made a difficult decision—that
was to cancel all elective surgery other than category 1 to make sure we had
sufficient capacity in our hospital system to respond to what was at that point
an anticipated demand for hospital services
associated with COVID-19. The other
event that was occurring at the time was the huge demand for personal protective equipment, for not only our healthcare workers but also healthcare
workers across the globe. We were really struggling, as were all healthcare
systems, to make sure that we had enough equipment to protect our workers and
the patients they care for.
Rolling forward, our suppression
strategies in Western Australia, as part of the national cabinet process, have
been very successful. On 28 April, I was delighted to join the Premier in
announcing that we would not only continue to
do category 1 surgery but also start a quarter of the category 2 surgical
activity from that date. That has been going well. We are continuing to
undertake a range of category 1 and 2 elective surgeries, focusing particularly
on those people who have waited the longest.
Recently, the Premier and I were very pleased to announce that from 18 May —yesterday—we
would once again increase the amount of elective surgery that is taking place
in Western Australia. We will now do category 1, 2 and 3 elective surgery. We
are not only focusing on the category 1 surgeries, which are the most
important, but also making sure that we get to category 2 and 3 surgeries,
particularly for those who have waited longer than most.
On behalf of the government, I thank
all Western Australians for their patience during this time. Many people have
been waiting for pain-relieving surgery. The decision to suspend that surgical
activity was not an easy one, but it was a necessary one. We will continue to
grow the amount of elective surgery that is taking place. As I said, from
yesterday, it is ramping up to 50 per cent. We will continue to monitor the
amount of elective surgery that is taking place against the amount of personal
protective equipment we have available to us. We are continuing to source that
equipment from overseas. We are also continuing to source it locally from those
manufacturers that have been able to repurpose their manufacturing processes to
support our health system. Elective surgery is also taking place in private
hospitals, which means that more Western Australians will be able to get their
surgery.
I
ask all Western Australians to be not only patient, but also ready. We are
trying to reschedule this surgery at apace now, so some people will not get a great
deal of prior notice of their operations. We ask them to be ready, particularly
if their surgery was cancelled before because they will be the priority, to
make sure that we can get it going. It is not just cafes that people are
desperate to get back into; our surgeons, nursing staff and patients are also
keen to get back into operating theatres. We have had a rush on. I think we
will meet that 50 per cent target faster than we would perhaps be comfortable
with, but it is great to see people getting back on board. We will continue to
review the situation and, hopefully, get up to 75 per cent and then 100 per
cent of activity. We want to get people back into our hospitals because we know
that we can then get them on a better care pathway and back on the road to
recovery. This is a great opportunity. It is an opportunity that has been
brought about by the hard work of Western Australians to get the COVID-19
disease burden under control. If we can continue to do that through social
distancing, personal hygiene and the measures that we have in place, we will be
able to do more of these things, which will get Western Australians and
our hospitals back to work. This is a great opportunity to continue to care for
Western Australians, and it has been made available because we are getting the
COVID-19 pandemic crisis under control.
thank the member for the question. It is an important one for the future of
health care in Western Australia because although we know that making
sure we keep the number of cases of COVID-19 down, we also need to be aware of
the disease burden and the burden of chronic disease and injury in other
aspects of our health care. On 23 March, we made a difficult decision—that
was to cancel all elective surgery other than category 1 to make sure we had
sufficient capacity in our hospital system to respond to what was at that point
an anticipated demand for hospital services
associated with COVID-19. The other
event that was occurring at the time was the huge demand for personal protective equipment, for not only our healthcare workers but also healthcare
workers across the globe. We were really struggling, as were all healthcare
systems, to make sure that we had enough equipment to protect our workers and
the patients they care for.
Rolling forward, our suppression
strategies in Western Australia, as part of the national cabinet process, have
been very successful. On 28 April, I was delighted to join the Premier in
announcing that we would not only continue to
do category 1 surgery but also start a quarter of the category 2 surgical
activity from that date. That has been going well. We are continuing to
undertake a range of category 1 and 2 elective surgeries, focusing particularly
on those people who have waited the longest.
Recently, the Premier and I were very pleased to announce that from 18 May —yesterday—we
would once again increase the amount of elective surgery that is taking place
in Western Australia. We will now do category 1, 2 and 3 elective surgery. We
are not only focusing on the category 1 surgeries, which are the most
important, but also making sure that we get to category 2 and 3 surgeries,
particularly for those who have waited longer than most.
On behalf of the government, I thank
all Western Australians for their patience during this time. Many people have
been waiting for pain-relieving surgery. The decision to suspend that surgical
activity was not an easy one, but it was a necessary one. We will continue to
grow the amount of elective surgery that is taking place. As I said, from
yesterday, it is ramping up to 50 per cent. We will continue to monitor the
amount of elective surgery that is taking place against the amount of personal
protective equipment we have available to us. We are continuing to source that
equipment from overseas. We are also continuing to source it locally from those
manufacturers that have been able to repurpose their manufacturing processes to
support our health system. Elective surgery is also taking place in private
hospitals, which means that more Western Australians will be able to get their
surgery.
I
ask all Western Australians to be not only patient, but also ready. We are
trying to reschedule this surgery at apace now, so some people will not get a great
deal of prior notice of their operations. We ask them to be ready, particularly
if their surgery was cancelled before because they will be the priority, to
make sure that we can get it going. It is not just cafes that people are
desperate to get back into; our surgeons, nursing staff and patients are also
keen to get back into operating theatres. We have had a rush on. I think we
will meet that 50 per cent target faster than we would perhaps be comfortable
with, but it is great to see people getting back on board. We will continue to
review the situation and, hopefully, get up to 75 per cent and then 100 per
cent of activity. We want to get people back into our hospitals because we know
that we can then get them on a better care pathway and back on the road to
recovery. This is a great opportunity. It is an opportunity that has been
brought about by the hard work of Western Australians to get the COVID-19
disease burden under control. If we can continue to do that through social
distancing, personal hygiene and the measures that we have in place, we will be
able to do more of these things, which will get Western Australians and
our hospitals back to work. This is a great opportunity to continue to care for
Western Australians, and it has been made available because we are getting the
COVID-19 pandemic crisis under control.
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