$10 MILLION FOR PUBLIC HOSPITALS TO PERFORM MORE SURGERY

Approximately 2,000 additional public patients on elective surgery waiting lists will undergo their operation through a $10 million surgery blitz across the State, Health Minister Stephen Robertson said today.

Mr Robertson said the one-off injection would benefit patients from the Gold Coast to Townsville and would target those waiting longer than nationally recommended for surgery.

“I have approved $10 million within existing budgets for public hospitals that have indicated an ability to carry out more surgical sessions or have identified spare capacity at local private facilities,” Mr Robertson said.

“This internal funding is in addition to the $8.5 million surgery tender for private companies to treat public patients announced earlier this year.

“At this stage, $6.4 million of the $10 million has been provided to treat more than 1,400 patients at 10 public hospitals – Bundaberg, Ipswich, Logan, Toowoomba, Townsville, Fraser Coast, Nambour, Rockhampton, Mackay and the Princess Alexandra. (TABLE ATTACHED)

“Most of these operations will be performed by Visiting Medical Officers and will be over and above existing surgery levels at these hospitals.

“They will focus on low cost, high volume type procedures such as cataracts and colonoscopies and target category two and category three ‘long wait’ patients.”

“Planning is underway to allocate the remaining $3.6 million, after which I expect a total of around 2,000 additional patients to be treated and removed from the waiting list.”

Mr Robertson said Ipswich Hospital would provide more than 440 additional operations across a range of specialties including urology, orthopaedics, cataracts and ear, nose and throat.

“Toowoomba Hospital will treat more than 200 patients across general surgery, ear,nose and throat, urology and orthopaedics while the Princess Alexandra will carry out around 100 neurosurgery operations,” he said.

Mr Robertson said Queensland Health had improved its elective surgery performance despite challenging conditions but reducing ‘long waits’ was still a Government priority.

“Our public health system is treating record numbers of patients but there is unprecedented demand for surgery from a growing and ageing population,” he said.

“That is why we are always exploring ways to cut our waiting lists.

“Identifying spare capacity in the system is one way and in April we put public operations out to private tender through the $8.5 million Surgery Connect.

“I expect the successful tenderer to start performing public elective surgery in July this year.”

24 May, 2007

MEDIA:     Joshua Cooney     3234 1185 or 0409 069 056

$6.4 MILLION ALREADY ALLOCATED TO HOSPITALS FOR ELECTIVE SURGERY

Hospital	Total number of cases to be treated	Number to be treated in public hospitals	Number to be outsourced to private sector	Description	Funding provided
Ipswich	130		130	Cataracts	$295,100
	220	220		Colonoscopies	$220,000
	15	15		ENT cases	$67,500
	15	15		Urology cases	$67,500
	12	12		Plastics	$54,000
	5	5		Breast reduction cases post cancer (from Gold Coast list)	$22,500
	50	50		Orthopaedics	$600,000
Bundaberg	50		50	Orthopaedic joint replacements	$900,000
	115		115	Cataracts	$402,500
Logan	12	12		Gynaecology cases (from Gold Coast wait list )	$70,000
	40	40		Vascular access (from Princess Alexandra list)	$360,000
Toowoomba	200	200		General surgery, urology, ENT	$600,000
	16	16		Orthopaedic	$200,000
Townsville	7		7	Urology cases (Category 1 patients)	$75,000
Fraser Coast	50	50		General Surgery	$250,000
	30	30		Orthopaedic	$300,000
Nambour	150		150	Cataracts	$450,000
Rockhampton	40	40		Ophthalmology	$116,000
	40	40		General Surgery	$116,000
	40	40		Orthopaedic	$116,000
	20	20		Minor procedures	$58,000
Mackay	50		50	Cataracts	$125,000
	9		9	Orthopaedic	$45,000
	19		19	General Surgery	$95,000
Princess Alexandra	100	100		Neurosurgery	$800,000
Total	1435	905	530		$6,405,100