Queensland Premier David Crisafulli boosts funding for private specialists to take on public patients

Waiting lists for elective surgery have had the largest monthly fall in more than a decade after the government increased funding in a program to partner public patients with private specialists.

Tim Nicholls, left, and Queensland Premier David Crisafulli, right, talk to Russell Bumford about his new hip, which he received last month through the Surgery Connect program. Picture: NewsWire / John Gass

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Waiting lists for elective surgery have recorded their largest monthly fall in more than a decade after the Queensland government increased funding for a program that partners public ­patients with private specialists.

The Crisafulli Liberal National Party government recorded a more than 4 per cent drop in the number of patients on the waiting list in April, down 2750 from 65,483 people, with a further 1495 decrease in May.

In February, the government put $100m in “surge” funding into Surgery Connect to “stabilise” the number of people waiting for primarily “category three” surgeries, such as knee and hip replacements, septoplasties, and cataract treatments, which kicked off 12,000 extra operations.

An extra $1.8bn has been allocated over the next four years in the budget to boost the number of elective surgeries, of which $1.27bn will be funnelled into the program.

Premier David Crisafulli said increasing partnerships with private providers has been a success. “This isn’t about replacing the public sector, in fact, we are growing the public sector,” he said.

“This is about making sure that we can use the latent capacity in the private sector to get people off those lists.”

However, public Queensland health data shows the number of people waiting longer than the clinically recommended time is still up 43.6 per cent on last year under the previous Miles Labor government.

Health Minister Tim Nicholls said the average surgery under the Labor-introduced scheme costs the taxpayer $10,000, largely on par with the public system.

The reduction of waiting lists and ambulance ramping was a key campaign platform for Mr Crisafulli ahead of last October’s election. In the nine months since, ambulance ramping has eased several percentage points to 40.7 per cent, well off the 30 per cent the government pledged to achieve by the end of the parliamentary term.

“It is heading in the right direction … it’s a big deal to have any reduction,” Mr Crisafulli said.

Mr Nicholls has approved fin­ancial penalties for hospitals that fail to move patients from emergency departments within 24 hours.

The move comes as tensions between the state government and Queensland nurses continue to rise over stalled enterprise bargaining negotiations.

Union secretary Sarah Beeman confirmed that members would level up their industrial action from next Tuesday, which means some administration and cleaning tasks won’t get done. The QNMU says offers to date have failed to meet the government’s election pledge of “nation-leading pay and conditions”.