Public patients get priority as elective surgery resumes

Victorian public patients go to the head of the elective surgery queue ahead of private hospital counterparts.

Victoria’s Minister for Health Jenny Mikakos. Picture: James Ross/AAP

Victorian public hospital patients waiting for surgery will be prioritised over their private hospital counterparts when elective surgery resumes on Monday, Health Minister Jenny Mikakos has confirmed.

Following a decision of national cabinet on Tuesday, all category-two and some category-three surgery is set to resume, enabling procedures such as IVF, cancer screening, post-cancer reconstruction, paediatric surgery, joint replacements, low-risk eye surgeries, endoscopies, colonoscopies and some dental procedures to restart after they were cancelled on April 1.

Under an agreement struck between the Victorian government and private hospitals to ensure the hospitals would be available in the event of mass hospitalisations because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the elective surgery will take place in both public and private hospitals.

Asked whether this meant public patients would be given priority over private patients, Ms Mikakos said: “We have secured an arrangement with the private hospitals to prioritise public patients.”

Asked whether it was fair for a public patient to be prioritised over someone who may have paid tens of thousands of dollars in private health insurance premiums over many years, Ms Mikakos said of the private patient: “They’re not part of our list. They're not part of the public wait list. If you go and you get surgery through a private hospital ... you are not part of the public wait list,” she said.

“What we’re talking about is people who are on the public waiting list or waiting for public surgery. Private patients negotiate with their own doctors, who then book in beds and theatre space.

“Private patients need to negotiate with their own doctor. We play no role in that.”

Asked whether it was likely that public patients would monopolise the private system, leaving no room for private patients, Ms Mikakos said the government had prioritised public patients “to ensure that private hospitals do not go broke”.

“We've actually kept the private hospital system viable in Victoria through agreement that was reached, because by pausing all elective surgery from the 1st of April, they’ve had no business,” Ms Mikakos said.

“They’ve had no activity because it all got put on hold through that decision of the national cabinet, so it’s kept the private hospital system viable in Victoria.”

Asked why people should bother having private health insurance, Ms Mikakos said: “Well that’s a separate matter. That’s irrelevant to our response to COVID-19.”

Opposition Leader Michael O’Brien said patients should be prioritised on the basis of medical need.

“I think the sickest person should get treated first,” Mr O’Brien told ABC radio.