❓ The Minister for Health responds to a question about elective surgery wait times in WA, claiming significant improvements compared to other states and previous performance, particularly in emergency department access and category 2 wait times. They acknowledge ongoing work is needed to reduce the time people wait to get *on* the waiting list.
AnsweredQoN 605Legislative Assembly
QuestionView source ↗
ELECTIVE SURGERY — PRE-SURGICAL ASSESSMENT
WAITLIST
605. Mr P. ABETZ to the
Minister for Health:
I know that access to health services such as elective
surgery is a big issue for people. Can the minister tell us how our hospitals
compare with other states in waiting times for elective surgery?
WAITLIST
605. Mr P. ABETZ to the
Minister for Health:
I know that access to health services such as elective
surgery is a big issue for people. Can the minister tell us how our hospitals
compare with other states in waiting times for elective surgery?
AnswerView source ↗
Needless to say, the answer is a
good one. Our waiting times for elective surgery compare very well with those
in the other states, and we have been working very hard at it. It is never easy
to balance the needs and demands that come through the front door of an
emergency department with the need for people who are on the waiting list to
have their surgery done within a reasonable time, because those two things tend
to be contradictory. The more patients we get through emergency departments,
the less we are able to deal with the patients on the elective surgery waiting
list.
The previous Labor Minister for
Health had a big focus on getting waitlist surgery numbers down and he did very
well to get the waitlist surgery numbers down. But the price that was paid was
the blowout in eight-hour waiting times through emergency departments, so
Western Australia had the worst record of any state; in fact, we had the
hospital with the worst record in any state—that is, Fremantle Hospital—with
people who were ready for admission waiting longer than eight hours for a bed.
That contributed significantly to increased morbidity and mortality amongst
those patients.
We think we have been able to get the balance right. Our
emergency departments now have the best national emergency access target
figures of any hospitals in Australia. Although it is true that we have been
struggling to continue to improve those figures, I am told that every other
state is miles behind the national targets. At the same time, the wait times
for surgery in Western Australia have become the second best in Australia. The
average median wait time in Australia is 36 days. At 30 days, we are second
only to Queensland. We are performing more surgery than is performed in any
other state. Our admission rate is 34.4 procedures per 1 000 head of
population, whereas the national figure is 29.4. So we are a full five points
in front of every other state. In Aboriginal health, the wait time for
Indigenous patients to get treatment is 34 days, which is six days fewer than
the national average.
The area in which we have had the most success is reducing
wait times for category 2 patients. Category 2 patients are those whose surgery
is not classified as urgent but must be done within 90 days, so I guess we
could regard them as semi-urgent. I do not have the figures going back to when
the Labor Party was in office because I could not get them in time, but in the
order of 2 500 patients were over boundary—that is, people in that
category whose surgery was not getting done in time. We have now got that
number down to 384 patients. I have to admit that I despaired about ever
getting close to that figure. The numbers for patients on the waiting list are
from May 2012, at which time 88 per cent of patients were being treated within
boundary and 2 000 were over boundary. Now, 97.5 per cent of patients are being
treated within boundary and only 2.5 per cent are over boundary. In May 2012,
11.6 per cent were over boundary and this year only 2.5 per cent were over
boundary. I think we have the balance right. Work is still to be done on the
number of people waiting to get on the waiting list. Now that we have the
surgery under control because enough surgery is being done to get the numbers
down, we can start working backwards to get those people who are waiting to get
on the waiting list seen quicker and to have their surgery quicker when that is
required.
good one. Our waiting times for elective surgery compare very well with those
in the other states, and we have been working very hard at it. It is never easy
to balance the needs and demands that come through the front door of an
emergency department with the need for people who are on the waiting list to
have their surgery done within a reasonable time, because those two things tend
to be contradictory. The more patients we get through emergency departments,
the less we are able to deal with the patients on the elective surgery waiting
list.
The previous Labor Minister for
Health had a big focus on getting waitlist surgery numbers down and he did very
well to get the waitlist surgery numbers down. But the price that was paid was
the blowout in eight-hour waiting times through emergency departments, so
Western Australia had the worst record of any state; in fact, we had the
hospital with the worst record in any state—that is, Fremantle Hospital—with
people who were ready for admission waiting longer than eight hours for a bed.
That contributed significantly to increased morbidity and mortality amongst
those patients.
We think we have been able to get the balance right. Our
emergency departments now have the best national emergency access target
figures of any hospitals in Australia. Although it is true that we have been
struggling to continue to improve those figures, I am told that every other
state is miles behind the national targets. At the same time, the wait times
for surgery in Western Australia have become the second best in Australia. The
average median wait time in Australia is 36 days. At 30 days, we are second
only to Queensland. We are performing more surgery than is performed in any
other state. Our admission rate is 34.4 procedures per 1 000 head of
population, whereas the national figure is 29.4. So we are a full five points
in front of every other state. In Aboriginal health, the wait time for
Indigenous patients to get treatment is 34 days, which is six days fewer than
the national average.
The area in which we have had the most success is reducing
wait times for category 2 patients. Category 2 patients are those whose surgery
is not classified as urgent but must be done within 90 days, so I guess we
could regard them as semi-urgent. I do not have the figures going back to when
the Labor Party was in office because I could not get them in time, but in the
order of 2 500 patients were over boundary—that is, people in that
category whose surgery was not getting done in time. We have now got that
number down to 384 patients. I have to admit that I despaired about ever
getting close to that figure. The numbers for patients on the waiting list are
from May 2012, at which time 88 per cent of patients were being treated within
boundary and 2 000 were over boundary. Now, 97.5 per cent of patients are being
treated within boundary and only 2.5 per cent are over boundary. In May 2012,
11.6 per cent were over boundary and this year only 2.5 per cent were over
boundary. I think we have the balance right. Work is still to be done on the
number of people waiting to get on the waiting list. Now that we have the
surgery under control because enough surgery is being done to get the numbers
down, we can start working backwards to get those people who are waiting to get
on the waiting list seen quicker and to have their surgery quicker when that is
required.
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