Victoria’s surgery restrictions put pressure back on private health providers

Victoria’s first surgery bans were designed to save PPE. The last round is designed to protect workers, private hospitals say.

Dr Damien Foong during surgery. Photo: Claudia Baxter / The Queensland Times

Most elective surgeries will again be suspended across metropolitan Melbourne as the city continues to record hundreds of COVID-19 infections each day, despite being thrust into a hard lockdown three weeks ago.

Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews reintroduced the ban in an effort to free up nurses to help protect the most vulnerable members of the community, aged care residents. The virus has ripped through the nursing homes in Melbourne, infecting hundreds of elderly residents and killing seven on Sunday.

The ban on elective surgeries, the main revenue driver for public hospitals, places further earnings pressure on the private health system. Despite securing a viability guarantee from the government, that funding only covers the cost of treating patients, leaving no cash to reinvest in equipment, training or servicing debt.

“We’re continuing to see high case numbers – particularly in our vulnerable elderly residents – and we need to ensure we have the beds and staff available if we need to transfer them out of aged care settings,” Health Minister Jenny Mikakos said.

“Our fantastic healthcare staff will make sure anyone who needs urgent surgery will still be seen throughout this time and we’ll resume our elective surgery blitz as soon as it’s safe to do so, to catch up on everyone else.”

The government banned most elective surgery in April but was able to quickly get on top of the first round of COVID-19 infections. Australian Private Hospitals Association (APHA)

CEO Michael Roff said the initial ban was aimed at preserving personal protective equipment.

“This time it is about preserving the workforce,” he said.

“The Victorian (viability) agreement had a step-in, step-out arrangement so it was always going to be envisaged that if a second wave was going to happen, hospitals would step back in. They’d had their costs covered and now we are seeing facilities and staff are being used in the pandemic response, which was exactly how it was designed.”

The Victorian coronavirus surge has put health stocks on edge, with Goldman Sachs analysts singling out Australia’s biggest private hospital, Ramsay, as the most exposed, given 20 per cent of its revenue comes from Victoria.

Ramsay runs 16 hospitals across Victoria and the chief executive of its Australian operations Danny Sims said the government had requested it to re-enter the viability agreement to ensure it had the capacity to help treat the most vulnerable members of the community.

“As part of the pandemic agreement between private hospital operators and the Victorian Government, Ramsay has been called on to accommodate some of the vulnerable aged care residents in our hospitals. We have taken a cohort of these residents at two of our sites currently,” Mr Sims said.

“We have had some amazing staff who put up their hands to assist by working shifts in the aged care facilities. A group of nurses including one NUM (nurse unit manager) drove more than an hour to cover a night shift at an aged care facility. At the same time, our other employees have also stepped up by preparing our facilities and continuing to provide support as required.”

Mr Sims said Ramsay’s Victorian hospitals remained safe despite the state continuing to record hundreds of COVID-19 infections each day.

“Due to our robust infection prevention and control measures in place, as well as the extensive training our teams have undertaken, it remains safe for other patients to be admitted to our facilities even where we have suspected or confirmed COVID cases.

“All our sites have implemented pandemic response plans to ensure we are prepared for these scenarios”

The Victorian government said: “Wherever possible, surgeries that have already been booked will proceed – but for the time being, only new Category 1 and the most urgent Category 2 surgeries will be booked”.

“IVF treatments such as egg retrievals will be able to continue given the time critical nature of these procedures and minimal impact on hospital capacity.”

Elective surgeries will be allowed to continue as normal in regional Victoria.