Elective surgery surges in Queensland public hospitals

Queensland’s public hospitals are delivering increased elective surgery activity amid unprecedented demand for health services and a deadly global pandemic.

Minister for Health and Ambulance Services Yvette D’Ath said Queensland Health’s latest June Quarter 2021 Performance Data also reveals record activity in the state’s busy emergency departments.

“Queensland’s public hospitals carried out 37,187 elective surgery procedures in the June quarter, up from 36,781 the previous quarter,” she said.

“This represents an increase of 37.8 per cent compared to the same period last year, which is an outstanding performance during a once-in-a-century pandemic.

“The number of patients waiting longer than clinically recommended for elective surgery is also falling.

“As of July 1, there were 629 long wait elective surgery patients, down from 1,574 the previous quarter and 5,166 in May 2020.

“There are also more Queenslanders receiving an initial outpatient appointment.

“In the June 2021 quarter 175,839 people received their initial outpatient appointment, up from 171,677 the previous quarter.”

Minister D’Ath said public hospitals were still treating 100 per cent of the most serious Category 1 emergency department presentations within two minutes.

“Between April 2021 and June 2021, there were over 601,305 emergency department presentations,” she said.

“That is over 28 per cent more patients seeking care from an emergency department this quarter compared to the same period last year.

“All urgent (Category 1) patients presenting to an emergency department were seen within clinically recommended timeframes.

“This outstanding performance comes despite significant increases in presentations across all categories.

“Category 1 and 2 presentations increased by 11 per cent and 22 per cent respectively. Category 3 (26 per cent), 4 (32 per cent) and 5 (30 per cent) presentations also experienced a substantial increase.

“Despite these increases, the majority of presentations (74 per cent) were seen within clinically recommended times.

“The latest State Budget includes a record $22.2 billion for health, enabling us to hire more health workers, build more health facilities and deliver more services.

“Over the next four years the Palaszczuk Government is hiring an extra 9,475 frontline health workers and new health infrastructure across Queensland.

“Our health workers are at the heart of Queensland’s world class health system.

“It’s thanks to their dedication that our hospitals continue to provide quality care to Queenslanders in the face of ever rising demand, and a challenging pandemic.

“I want to thank our all of our dedicated health workers for the outstanding job they do each and every day in our increasingly busy public hospitals.”

To view the latest June Quarter 2021 Performance Data, visit http://www.performance.health.qld.gov.au/

Media contact: Martin Philip 0407 675 008