Geelong woman’s surgery nightmare as waitlist grows

A Geelong woman has revealed her battle among hundreds of locals holding out for elective surgery, as the waitlist blows out due to ongoing Covid strain.

Geelong’s elective waiting surgery waiting list has “grown significantly” since the start of the coronavirus pandemic, and is expected to be under even more strain as Omicron cases surge.

It comes as authorities declared a code brown at six regional hospitals, including Geelong hospital, and at all hospital across metropolitan Melbourne on Tuesday.

Barwon Health earlier this month cancelled all non-urgent elective surgeries following a state government directive to ease pressure on the health system.

Spokeswoman Kate Bibby said Barwon Health was working with St John of God Geelong and Epworth Geelong as a “single system” to ensure urgent category one elective surgery across the three hospitals could continue across the three hospitals.

“Less urgent elective surgery wait times will be impacted including procedures such as joint replacements,” Ms Bibby said.

Geelong West woman Tayla Lovett said a laposcopy she had scheduled to investigate suspected endometriosis had been cancelled multiple times since 2020.

Tayla

Ms Lovett, who is a private patient, said an upcoming appointment was cancelled recently following the state government directive.

“The not knowing is stressful,” she said.

“You kind of want to know what’s going on with your body.”

Victoria’s deputy Covid response commander Adam Horsburgh said at some point it would become “more challenging to maintain category one” elective surgeries.

He said these surgeries could be cancelled “for the shortest time possible” if necessary.

Ms Bibby said the number of people waiting for less urgent surgery had “grown significantly” since January 2020 and said there were plans in place for a surgery blitz in the Geelong hospital’s building b once the Covid peak in hospitalisations has passed.

“Our pandemic plan is continually reviewed, which means our staffing on the wards is kept in line with activity levels to make sure patients receive the best possible care,” Ms Bibby said.

Geelong hospital’s elective surgery waitlist dropped from 2104 patients on March 31 to 1863 on June 30, according to Victorian Agency for Health Information data.

On September 30 there were 1753 patients on the waiting list, but that figure is expected to grow following significant cancellations this year.

St John of God Geelong Hospital chief executive officer Stephen Roberts said the hospital was following all recommendations and directions provided by the Victorian Department of Health, including the temporary reduction in elective surgery

“We have worked closely with our clinicians to postpone non-urgent surgery as per this directive,” Mr Roberts said.

“As expected, this has led to some increase in waiting times for these procedures. Our services, apart from the postponement of non-urgent surgery, continue.:

He said the hospital was working closely with Barwon Health to provide essential capacity and some category one surgeries.

Epworth Geelong general manager Leonie Lloyd said the hospital had also reduced elective surgery and was preparing for an increase in Covid-19 patients in coming weeks.

A Department of Health spokesman said surgery settings will continue to be reviewed regularly to ensure enough beds for Covid-19 patients are maintained and non-urgent surgery can then safely resume.

Originally published as Geelong woman’s surgery nightmare as waitlist grows