Elective surgery—Waitlists
148. Ms Libby Mettamto theMinister for Health:
I refer to the 288% blowout since March 2017 in the number of elective surgery patients waiting longer than the clinically recommended timeframe, including one in five patients who are waiting beyond the clinically recommended 30 days for the most urgent category 1 surgeries.
(1) Has the minister's department put forward recommendations that could help reduce the waitlist?
(2) If yes, what are these?
(3) If no to (1), what is the projection for elective surgery waitlists over the next six months?
Ms Meredith Hammat replied:
(1)–(3) I thank the member for the question, which gives me a chance to talk about the work we are doing in this area. The member will recall that during the COVID pandemic, there was a massive disruption to the delivery of elective surgery. Since the peak times, our strategy has seen a reduction of 40% in over-boundary cases. That is the reality of the plan we have in place now. It is starting to have a positive impact on bringing those numbers down.
Several members interjected.
The Speaker: Members! Carry on, minister.
Ms Meredith Hammat: I refer to COVID because it is part of the context; during COVID, we stopped delivering elective surgery. The fact is that the work we have been doing has been having a positive impact. I have outlined it in this place in the past.
Part of the context as well is the fact that the population is growing. In the last few years, we have had the equivalent population growth of the whole of the Northern Territory moving to our state. We have an ageing population, which increases the demand and complexity. In response, we have asked health service providers to look at what strategies they can put in place to reduce elective surgery wait times, and that includes weekend work and twilight procedures. In the 2023–24 midyear review, we invested an additional $40 million to keep building on the momentum we had put in place. As a result of those investments and reforms, we have reduced over-boundary cases by 40% since their peak. This shows that our investment and our plan are working.
149. Ms Libby Mettamto theMinister for Health:
I have a supplementary question. What is the projection for elective surgery waitlists over the next six months, and is the minister satisfied that she is doing everything she can?
Several members interjected.
The Speaker: Members! You have asked the question. Now, you need to wait for the response.
Ms Meredith Hammat replied:
Member, I have said it many times in this place. We will continue to look at what more we can do, because that is what we are doing. I have told the member that we have a plan, the plan is working, and we will continue to see what more is possible.
