The state government is preparing to ramp up surgical activity to record levels as part of a $1.5 billion hospital blitz to clear a massive backlog of elective surgery built up over the pandemic.
Under the push, hospitals will be cranked up to 125 per cent of their pre-pandemic levels as the government promises an extra 40,000 surgeries in 2023, building up to a record 240,000 surgeries every year from 2024.
But the push – needed to tackle huge waiting lists linked to months worth of cancelled surgeries due to the pandemic – will not come cheaply, costing as much as $1.5 billion.
It will see Victorian hospitals operating at night and on weekends. As a first step, Frankston Private Hospital will be overhauled into a public surgery centre with the ability to handle up to 9000 public patients a year from 2023.
The idea is that there will be no emergency department to divert healthcare workers, allowing the new facility to focus on tackling the backlog of elective surgery patients built up over the past two years.
As part of the plan, two new operating theatres will be set up at the hospital by early next year. The Government is also promising to spend $475 million to boost the number of same-day surgeries across the hospital system, with increased “twilight and after-hours work”, as well as theatre improvements to increase efficiency to push patients through the system more quickly.
It is also promising to spend $548 million treating public patients in private hospitals. The state government is claiming that will mean an extra 51,300 people will receive non-urgent surgery by the middle of 2024.
The government is also promising to set up so-called “rapid access hubs” across metropolitan public hospitals to perform specific surgeries such as hernia repairs, cataract surgeries and joint replacements, allowing specialist staff using specialised equipment to perform more surgeries each day.
The first eight of these hubs will be set up over the next year at St Vincent’s on the Park, Broadmeadows Hospital, Heidelberg Repatriation Hospital, the Royal Women’s Hospital, Werribee Mercy Hospital, Sandringham Hospital, the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre, and one in regional Victoria.
A new “chief surgical adviser” will be appointed to help run the blitz, working with a Surgery Recovery Taskforce offering clinical advice.
The government is also promising $80 million to “upskill” more than 1000 nurses and theatre and sterilisation technicians, and help train an extra 400 perioperative nurses and recruit 2000 skilled healthcare workers from overseas.
The government will also spend $20 million for an equipment fund to help health services upgrade surgical equipment and diagnostic machines.
It follows a heated stoush between the states and the federal government over the carve-up of health funds.
In February, The Age revealed NSW and Victoria are demanding up to $20 billion to tackle the “extreme pressure” placed on the system by the COVID-19 pandemic, including a 50-50 split between the states and the Commonwealth on hospital funding.
Health Minister Martin Foley accused Prime Minister Scott Morrison of failing to show up for Victorians, after the pandemic led to mass-surgery cancellations, “while our hardworking nurses and doctors have put everything into caring for the most critical patients.”
More to come
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