Waiting time for elective surgery has blown out to a five year high

WAITING times for elective surgery have blown out to a five-year high — with more patients waiting longer than a year, figures show.

WAITING times for elective surgery have blown out to a five-year high — with more patients waiting longer than a year, figures show.

Median waiting time for surgery climbed from 34 days to 40 days between 2011/12 and 2015-16, above the national average of 37 days.

The portion waiting more than a year for surgery jumped from 1 per cent to 1.8 per cent in the same period.

The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare report, released today, shows nationally almost 712,000 patients were admitted to public hospitals for elective surgery in 2015-16 — SA was the only state to record a fall, with the 59,738 patients admitted last financial year being a 4.3 per cent drop on the previous year.

SA Health seized on the report as evidence of the need for the controversial Transforming Health reforms, despite the overhaul closing the Repatriation General Hospital which performs hundreds of elective surgical procedures each year.

SA Health deputy chief executive Len Richards said there was more work to be done as South Australian hospitals remain behind the national average in elective surgery waiting times.

“Similar to 2014-15, our median waiting time for elective surgery is three days above the national average,” Mr Richards said.

“However South Australia continues to perform better than the national average for two of the three key measures of waiting time.

“Ninety per cent of people received their elective surgery within 233 days, 12 per cent

better than the national average of 260 days. 1.8 per cent of patients waited more than 365 days prior to admission for surgery, the third best result nationally and slightly better than the national average.

“These results must improve and that is why we are undergoing the biggest reforms of the South Australian public health system in history.”

Mr Richards said the reforms would realign health services to meet demand and create hubs for elective surgery and rehabilitation for more efficient services.

“Noarlunga, The Queen Elizabeth Hospital and Modbury Hospitals will be further developed as same-day surgery hubs,” he said.

The waiting times

ELECTIVE surgery is divided into three categories related to clinical urgency — surgery recommended within 30 days, 90 days or 365 days.

IN SA more than 91 per cent of all patients were admitted within the clinically recommended time in 2015-16.

IN Category 1, 90 per cent of the 15,293 patients were admitted within the recommended 30 days

IN Category 2, 88.4 per cent of the 21,873 patients were admitted within the recommended 90 days

IN Category 3, 95.3 per cent of the 22,572 patients were admitted within the recommended 365 days.

THE median wait for admission was 12 days for Category 1 patients, 49 days for Category 2

patients and 107 days for Category 3 patients.