Elective surgery blitz to free up Victorian hospitals ahead of virus surge

More than 7000 patients will have their elective surgeries fast-tracked to be completed in the next few weeks to free up capacity in Victorian hospitals as health officials across the country scramble to prepare for a "tsunami" of COVID-19 patients.

The Andrews government will on Sunday announce a $60 million package aimed at pushing elective surgeries through the public and private systems before the coronavirus pandemic peaks.

The Victorian government will embark on an elective surgery 'blitz' over the coming weeks ahead of the anticipated peak of COVID-19 patients.Credit: Louie Douvis

Patient cases will be prioritised based on clinical need, and it is likely that some procedures in less- urgent categories will have to be postponed in the coming months.

Emergency surgeries will be not be affected by the outbreak which is expected to peak over winter.

“We need to get as many patients as possible in for elective surgery now to provide more capacity in the hospital system for when we’ll need it most," said Premier Daniel Andrews.

Thirteen new Victorian coronavirus cases were confirmed on Saturday , bringing the state total to 49.

Victorian Health Minister Jenny Mikakos.Credit: AAP

As of 11am on Saturday, an additional 20 people had been diagnosed with the virus in NSW, that state's health authority said in a statement, upping its tally to 112. As of 6pm Saturday 237 Australians were infected.

Victoria's Health Minister Jenny Mikakos said the elective surgery blitz would not only prepare hospitals for the peak of the pandemic, but also help thousands of Victorians get much-needed surgery earlier.

The Australian Medical Association's Victorian president welcomed the plan on Saturday, but said detail was required on its implementation.

"We think it's a very sensible strategy by the government", Associate Professor Julian Rait said.

"We need to look at the details to be sure that the way in which the money is used is the most sensible way to do so."

He said 'blitzes' had been effective in the past, where public hospital work was contracted out to the private sector and 'idle times' in hospitals, like Saturday mornings, were used to do additional surgeries.

The AMA urged the state government ensure that follow-up post-operative treatment had been factored into the plan.

"There might be readmissions or co-morbidities or things that might complicate matters after the surgery, and so there needs to be clear pathways entry for those patients into the system," Professor Rait said.

There were about 50,000 patients on the elective surgery waiting list in Victoria, he said.

"So this is making a significant dent in it, but I imagine the priority will be category-one, category-two cases such as investigating suspicious breast lumps, abnormal bowel issues or other kinds of cancers - those are the sort of people that need to be addressed as a matter of some priority."

Professor Rait said the riskof overwhelming the health system under the blitz was low, as modelling suggested the Australian pandemic would peak between May and August.

"So we've got a month to get this right, to get this got to get this done.

"I think that it's very sensible that the government uses this pause, or this initial quiet period to address the issue before the tsunami arrives."

The Victorian government also announced on Saturday that it would no longer publicly report exposure sites.

"As we now have 49 confirmed cases of coronavirus (COVID-19) in Victorians, we will be moving away from reporting public exposure sites," a Health Department spokesperson said.

"Extensive testing has shown that people who have passed through places where there was a confirmed case, known as casual contacts, have an extremely low risk of transmission."

Australia's Chief Medical Officer, Professor Brendan Murphy, emphasised on Saturday that community transmission - cases in which people who have not recently travelled or had contact with a COVID-19-positive person - was 'low at the moment'.

"We are focusing our testing on returned travellers or contacts of confirmed cases who are symptomatic.

"We don't want people with an ordinary cold getting tested."

Plans were 'well advanced' in hospitals for ensuring critical care capacity if a number of people get severe disease, according to Professor Murphy.

Meanwhile, the national peak body for intensive care medicine is outlining an ambitious plan to double the number of ICU beds equipped with ventilators to more than 4000 across the country.

The Australian and New Zealand Intensive Care Society will on Monday hand new guidelines on critical care for patients with COVID-19, quickly drawn up by a working group of 30 intensive care experts, to Dr Murphy, to guide the federal government's planning for a rapid increase in cases.

According to the group, there are just over 2000 ICU beds in Australia.

"If it was a truly catastrophic situation, we could potentially in Australia double the number of ICU beds for a period of time," the society's president Anthony Holley said.

The plan would see an additional 2000 intensive care beds in hospitals around the country, a task that would require some hospital wards to be converted into intensive care units and fitted with ventilators - machines that help patients with pneumonia to breathe.

Australian Medical Association president Tony Bartone warned the number and the capacity of public hospital intensive care units equipped with ventilators "is going to be a significant issue" as health authorities responded to an "uncontrolled" COVID-19 outbreak.

"We'll never have enough to cope with a health emergency, a national health emergency, of the scale that potentially this could evolve to," Dr Bartone said.