Sunshine Hospital’s elective surgery waiting list has shrunk.
Figures from the Department of Health reveal there were 1610 people waiting for elective surgery at Sunshine at the end of the 2013-14 financial year – down 520 from the 2130 people at the end of 2012-13.
Western Health acting executive operations director Sally Martin said his group, which oversees Sunshine, Western and Williamstown hospitals, met the state government’s category one, two and three elective surgery admission timeframes for 2013-14.
Ms Martin said an extra 1719 Western Health patients had received elective surgery procedures during 2013-14 compared with the previous financial year.
“During the 2013-14 financial year, Western Health received additional funding from the Department of Health and this, combined with the development and commissioning of the fourth theatre at Williamstown Hospital, has resulted in some positive elective surgery results,” she said.
“To increase in-hours emergency surgery at Sunshine and Western hospitals, changes were made to the plastic and orthopaedic surgery units to minimise the impact on elective surgery.”
Sunshine Hospital performed 5971 elective surgeries in 2013-14, up 758 from the year before.
Ms Martin said Sunshine Hospital had postponed 5.1 per cent of elective surgeries, well below the 8 per cent benchmark. The state’s 2014-15 budget includes $190 million in the next four years to deliver more elective surgery procedures across the state.
A total of $45.4 million has been allocated for next financial year.
“Doctors, nurses, hospital administrators and support staff should be congratulated for their work in providing more operations for patients,” state Health Minister David Davis said.
