Coronavirus: Focus on urgent operations only as hospitals clear deck

Every year, hospitals admit more than two million patients for elective surgery, two-thirds of which takes place in the private system.

Every year, hospitals admit more than two million patients for elective surgery, two-thirds of which takes place in the private system.

Urgent elective surgery makes up the minority of patient admissions. Although the private sector does not categorise elective surgery by urgency, in public hospitals surgery is classified as urgent, semi-urgent or non-urgent.

On average in NSW, about a quarter of admissions for elective surgery in public hospitals is urgent. This type of surgery will continue to be performed during the COVID-19 crisis, but many types of heart surgery are not regarded as urgent, including coronary ­artery bypass surgery, classed as category 2.

Urgent surgery, or category 1, is clinically indicated to be performed within 30 days.

Category 2 semi-urgent surgery is clinically indicated to be performed within 90 days, and non-urgent, or category 3, elective surgery, is clinically indicated to be performed within 365 days. It is up to an individual surgeon to categorise the urgency of the surgery to be performed.

The federal government has said that only “exceptional” category 2 surgery will continue until the COVID-19 pandemic subsides.

Guidelines say category 1 surgery includes operations to remove cancerous lumps or skin cancers, mastectomies, surgical removal of the gall bladder associated with pancreatitis, bowel resections, dilation and curettage of the uterus, removal of kidney stones, and some brain and cataract surgeries.