Redcliffe Hospital slashes surgery wait times

Redcliffe Hospital is on track to treat every single patient requiring urgent elective surgery within the national timeframes, which is further evidence of the Newman Government’s success in slashing waiting times.

Premier Campbell Newman today visited the hospital to congratulate staff on their outstanding results and hard work, as this is the first time these results have been achieved in over a decade.

“By taking a fresh look at the way health services are delivered, the LNP Government has been able to completely revitalise Redcliffe Hospital,” Mr Newman said.

“At the end of November 2013, Redcliffe Hospital had successfully treated all urgent, Category 1 patients within the timeframes set out under the National Elective Surgery Target.

“In addition, the semi-urgent Category 2 long-wait patient list was reduced by 80 per cent in 2013. This means the number of patients who were overdue for surgery dropped from 265 at the beginning of 2013 to just 53 patients.

“The number of non-urgent, category 3 long wait patients is down from 43 to 10.

“I can’t stress enough how big an achievement this actually is and I congratulate all the hard working men and women at Redcliffe Hospital who have made it a reality.”

Health Minister Lawrence Springborg said the overall improvements in elective surgery were delivered through a range of initiatives implemented throughout the hospital.

“By making patients our number one priority, our government has been able to deliver excellent elective surgery outcomes – something the former Labor government was never able to achieve,” Mr Springborg said.

“Additional treatment opportunities were provided through the Surgery Connect Program as well as through a clinical services redesign project.

“By taking a different approach, we have significantly improved patient outcomes and restored accountability.

“We have implemented a performance management and reporting system, which has restored accountability and led to improved patient outcomes.

"All of our hospital reporting information is readily available and we are continuing to see improvements on the waiting lists left by the former Labor government.”

In the 2013 calendar year there was an overall waiting list reduction of 39 per cent in Category 2 and a reduction of 37 per cent in category 3 at Redcliffe Hospital.

[ENDS] 13 January 2014

Media contact: Premier’s Office 3719 7000 / Health Minister: Clare Mildren 0417 255 284